Yves Trudeau received his training at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal. In 1960, he was one of the founders of the Association des sculpteurs du Québec, which later became the Conseil de la sculpture du Québec. He taught at Université du Québec à Montréal, and his works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions. The Côte-Vertu Métro station, inaugurated in 1986, contains his artwork Relief, négatif positif, consisting of two stainless-steel murals.
Yves Trudeau is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and became a member of the Order of Canada in 1995.
Artwork description
Trained in various artistic disciplines during his youth, Trudeau first specialized in ceramics, then developed a career as a sculptor at the end of the 1950s. Bronze was his first material of choice before he began exploring the many possibilities of welded iron. La Cité is among the first iron pieces he created. This material allowed him to create pared-down forms and volumes that could be reduced to a few lines of action. By hollowing them, Trudeau created a dichotomous interplay between interior and exterior, between positive and negative. Iron also made it possible to create spatial thrust, giving the sculpture more vertical momentum. La Cité features some realistic elements, while other forms remain quite abstract. But as the title of his work suggests, Trudeau makes a direct reference to the urban environment. This theme was an early foreshadowing of his later preoccupation with humanity’s place within the cosmos.
Collection Lavalin du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal