Charles Daudelin

Charles Daudelin, OQ, sculptor (born 1 Oct 1920 in Granby, QC; died 2 April 2001 in Pointe-Claire, QC). He worked in the studio of Québec goldsmith Gilles Beaugrand (1939–41) and went to the École du meuble in Montréal. Between 1944 and 1945, Daudelin made two visits to New York, where he visited the atelier of Fernand Léger. Between 1946 and 1948, he spent time in Paris, where he regularly saw Léger and met the sculptor Henri Laurens, who he would meet a number of times. Daudelin taught at the École des beaux-arts in Montréal from 1964 to 1968. He was the recipient of second prizes in the Concours artistiques du Québec for painting (1946) and sculpture (1964 and 1969). Daudelin created important pieces for the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), the Complex G (Édifice Marie-Guyart), the Palais de Justice in Montréal, and the Church of St-Thomas d'Aquin in St-Lambert. He also sculpted a fountain outside Prince Edward Island’s government offices in Charlottetown. Another of his sculptures resides in the Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts in Montréal. He sculpted liturgical objects in bronze for l’Église Saint-Jean in Pointe-Saint-Charles, Québec, as well as for l’Église Saint-Thomas d’Aquin in Saint-Lambert, Québec. He also created the reredos in the Sacred Heart Chapel of Montréal's Basilique Notre-Dame and was responsible for the artistic conception of Montréal's Mont-Royal metro station and of a fountain on Québec Place in Paris.

Daudelin made marionettes, created stage sets for the theatre and ballet, and illustrated several books. He also made medals and trophies. His work is held in private and public collections at home and abroad and has been featured in numerous exhibitions at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the National Gallery of Canada, the Université de Montréal and the Université de Sherbrooke.

The Musée d’art contemporain and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec mounted a major retrospective of Daudelin’s work in 1974. He received the Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts in 1972, the Prix Philippe-Hébert from the St-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montréal in 1981. In 1985, he received the Prix Émile-Borduas from the Québec government and became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1997, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec presented Daudelin, a retrospective of his career shown through over 180 of his works. In 1998, Daudelin was appointed Grand Officier of the Ordre national du Québec.