 |
To the past the present should turn so as not to put the future at risk. Ex praeterito praesens prudenter agit ni futur actione deturpet. Inscription on Allegory of Prudence by Titian, National Gallery, London |
H O M E
Download
Durand Chronology
as pdf (1.8MB)
D U R A N D 
C H R O N O L O G Y: E A R L Y W O R K
Early Work
1986-1995
1996-2000
New
Self portrait with his sister
Wendy Margot Durand
Four Women
1964
Montreal
André Durand graduated from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts - teachers: Suzanne Rivard, Albert Dumouchel and Jacques de Tonnancour.
Wins first prizes in painting, engraving, perspective, art history, music theory and French literature.
One of the prizes, André Malraux's The Voices of Silence, was to make an enduring impression upon the artist.
The artist looks at the world through the hole left by the unfinished section of his jigsaw puzzle. For the classical ideal of beauty we may substitute some other value - but it is always through this hole that, the artist looks, much as a man who has lost his key looks for some implement to break open his door.
André Malraux, The Voices of Silence, Chapter 3, The Creative Process.
trans. Stuart Gilbert, 1956
Awarded a Canada Council travel grant to study the works of Titian, Michelangelo, Rubens and other European painters and sculptors, in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Florence, and Rome.
Pietà
1965
Toronto
Durand's PIETÀ is the centrepiece of an exhibition of religious paintings at St. Regis College.
Michael Courdin
(detail)
Elizabeth Ritchie
1966
Ottawa
André Durand was born in Ottawa in 1947 and his work has already shown the metaphysical quality of an authentic imagination plastique.
He is a figure painter for whom the arrangement of nudes in space, their relations to it, and to one another, provide an inexhaustible subject for exploration. Durand is more interested in the enigma involved in our ordinary ways of feeling than in the exploitation or defiance of our ordinary ways of seeing.
He is a figurative painter out of love for and committment to man's emotional and moral nature. It is the sort of involvement which is for him unavoidable at a period of history where the root paradox of human nature is more clearly manifest than ever before, and even threatens to overwhelms us entirely.
Durand believes that the creative person strives to restore to man the whole of his nature in a contradictory world where, while the possibilities for its development are perhaps greater than ever before, the disintegrating forces working against it are proportionately greater.
E. S. Ritchie 1967
Joan Sutherland
(detail)
Kostia Temerty
(detail)
Natasha Emmett
p o r t r a i t
Michael Courdin
Natasha Emmett
Ralph GallAy
Guy Huot
Robert La Palme
Bill Lawson
John Lawson
Robert MacCarron
Elizabeth Ritchie
Judith Robertson
Joan Sutherland
John Swain
Louise Temerty
Ludmilla Temerty
Kostia Temerty
Sandy Turner
On the Beach
Massacre of the Innocents
1967
Montreal
Exhibition, Galerie Anne-Marie Perron
Hector
1968
Montreal
Exhibition, Galerie l'Art Vivant
Greece
From his base in Athens established at the Canadian Consulate under the auspices of Angelina Waterman, Durand draws extensively at the National Museum of Antiquites and travels to classical sites throughout Greece.
Like the three incarnations of Durand’s inspiration, Michelangelo, Rubens and Titian, the artist gathers his sources from Ancient Greece and the antique. A Classical education and his introduction as a boy to the culture and mythology of Ancient Greece have far outweighed any other influences on his work, and throughout his career to date they have remained the constants amongst great variation.
Although Durand’s roots are in the antique the possibilities of interpretation with regard to his pictures are unbounded. Myths are hinted at, stories which we know well are mysteriously suggested, but we are more or less free to decide upon our own narrative.
Brian Balfour Oatts, CLASSICAL FRAGMENTS
Barbara
Wind
Winter Crucifixion
Hermit
1969
London
Establishes a studio under the patronage of the Canadian High Commissioner the Hon. Charles Ritchie CBE who introduces Durand to TS Eliot, Kenneth Clark, Kenneth Tynan, Elizabeth Bowen, and Elizabeth Frink. Petrus Bosman and Brian Masters commission Durand to paint the principal dancers of the Royal Ballet, including Anthony Dowell, Wayne Eagling and Julian Hosking.
Major works sold to British and European collectors.
Hector & Andromache
Priam & Hecuba
1970
London
m y t h o l o g y
THE TROJANS
Sponsored by Elizabeth Ritchie, Durand paints fifteen pictures inspired by Homer's Iliad.
The series is completed in 1972.
Lord Gosford
(detail)
1972
London
Manuel Augusto
Charles Ritchie
p o r t r a i t
LORD GOSFORD
MANUEL AUGUSTO
MICHAEL COURDIN
PETER AND CARMELLA ELLISTON
CHARLES RITCHIE
LUDMILLA TEMERTY
Elizabeth Bowen
(detail)
ELIZABETH BOWEN
ELIZABETH RITCHIE
Durand's portrait of the Irish novelist was commissioned by the Hon. Charles Ritchie CBE and featured in the National Portrait Gallery RECENT ACQUISITIONS exhibition. It was was acquired for the permanent collection and remains one of the most popular pictures.
Elizabeth Ritchie
as Sarah Baigneuse
Marguerite Porter
1973
London
Exhibition TERPSICHORE, St Paul's Church, Covent Garden,
sponsored by the soloist dancer Petrus Bosman.
The first exhibition of paintings to be held at the Actors' Church, TERPSICHORE featured life-size portraits of Royal Ballet dancers including Manuel Augusto, Anthony Dowell, Jenny Penny and Merle Park.
Durand with Monica Mason
Antoinette Sibley
Svetlana Beriosova
Wayne Eagling
David Wall
p o r t r a i t
Royal Ballet principals:
STEPHEN BEAGLEY
SVETLANA BERIOSOVA
PETRUS BOSMAN
ANTHONY DOWELL
WAYNE EAGLING
MONICA MASON
CARL MAYERS
MERLE PARK
JENNY PENNY
MARQUERITE PORTER
ANTOINETTE SIBLEY
DIANA VERE
DAVID WALL
Ecce Homo
(detail)
Hagar & Ishmael
Lucifer
1975
London
Exhibition ANGELS, Helicon Gallery, Conduit Street, London
Portugal
First visit to the Algarve.
Durand, Florence
1976
Venice, Florence and Rome
Studying 15th, 16th and 17th century Italian pictures and sculpture with Julian Hosking.
The Miraculous Draught
of Fishes
St. Sebastian
St. Francis & Bishop Guido
London
Exhibition FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE, St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.
s a c r e d
Fourteen paintings inspired by the Synoptic Gospels and Christian legends.
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
CHRIST APPEARING TO MARY
CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA
CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
THE DENIAL OF CHRIST
THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES
ST. FRANCIS
ST. JEROME
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST
ST. LUKE
ST. SEBASTIAN
Durand, left,
with Stephanie Beacham
p o r t r a i t
STEPHANIE BEACHAM
Alistair,
Lord Londonderry
and his son Frederick
Gillian Reid-Walker
St George de la Rue
as the Spartan Boy
(detail)
Jo Webster,
Expectant Arch
Lady Sophia
Vane-Tempest Stewart
1978
London
Exhibition A DECADE OF PORTRAITS, Aberbach Fine Art, Saville Row.
California
Exhibition LONDON PAINTINGS, Geona Gallery, Santa Barbara.
p o r t r a i t
BARBARA BERHNS
JULIAN HOSKING
THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY
AND FREDERICK, VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH
GILLIAN REID-WALKER
ANTHONY DOWELL AND ANTOINETTE SIBLEY
LADY SOPHIA VANE-TEMPEST STEWART
FREDERICK, VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH
AND HIS BROTHER SIR REGINALD VANE-TEMPEST STEWART
ST GEORGE DE LA RUE AS THE SPARTAN BOY
LUDMILLA TEMERTY
JO WEBSTER
Few things appal Durand more than a portrait which consciously seeks to delve. All that can be conveyed by the sitter in life can be shown in an expression or a penetrating gaze and all that can be hidden by a face can be given away in the look of an eye or a half stopped smile. That portraits could have a further, deeper level not indicated by any symbolism or implied by any careless facial gesture is not a preoccupation for Durand.
It is his candid acceptance of portraiture as a two-dimensional science which intrigues when faced with an example of one of Durand’s romantic likenesses, because it could be sworn that below the stillest surface rages a torrent of opinion and emotion.
Brian Balfour Oatts
Pisces: Christ and St. Peter
on the Sea of Galilee
Gemini: Castor & Pollux
1981
Edinburgh
m y t h o l o g y
Exhibition MIRACLES AND METAMORPHOSES, Adam House, Edinburgh Festival 1981.
Mythological pictures based on the zodiac.
AFTER THE RAPE OF GANYMEDE
ARIADNE & THE MINOTAUR
BIRTH OF APHRODITE
BIRTH OF PEGASUS
CASTOR & POLLUX
TRIUMPH OF PERSEPHONE
After the Rape
of Ganymede
(detail)
Unlike any other contemporary artist, Durand seems to be immersed in the antique. Today he stands alone in the creation of heroic images and grand narratives - the transient taste in art rests elsewhere - and for this reason alone, his paintings have not been fully understood. Durand’s compositions are triggered by myth but involve a search for purity and that elusive concept of ideal beauty.
In ancient times Greek sculptors created an idealised beauty by combining individual parts of the bodies of different models to create the perfect type. It is worth remembering that every time we criticise a figure because the legs are too long, or the shoulders too wide, we admit that an ideal beauty exists. Durand varies this idealization by creating a particular feeling of elegance in his pictures, partly through careful choice of surroundings, and partly by posing his subjects in complex attitudes not unlike Italian Mannerist painters tend to do.
Argonaut
(detail)
1982
Portugal
Nazare and the Algarve
Durand absorbs new inspiration, developing a vibrant palette and working with new, broader brushwork.
Mystic Marriage
(detail)
a l l e g o r y
MYSTIC MARRIAGE is Durand's first allegorical picture, a genre of visual image popular in the renaissance invested with philosophical connotations. The artist has restaged the Royal wedding on a beach in Nazare, Portugal and conjures a bride in the form of Diana, princess of Wales to focus attention on the deeper meanings within the picture.
In Durand’s subsequent allegorical pictures the princess became an icon for the artist - a symbolic presence - which he used to stunning effect to reflect on issues as diverse as AIDS (VOTIVE OFFERING, 1987) and classical mythology (FORTUNA, 2000).
Durand, the Algarve
Angelo de Mojana
di Cologna
Rome
p o r t r a i t
Vatican, official portrait of H H JOHN PAUL II
Commissioned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Unveiled 1983 Heim Gallery, London.
H H THE DALAI LAMA AT THE CONVENT OF SAN ANSELMO
THE COMMUNION OF MOTHER THERESA
GRAND MASTER ANGELO DE MOJANA
DI COLOGNA
Palazzo Malta Rome
H H John Paul II
(detail)
1983
London
p o r t r a i t
Loan exhibition H H JOHN PAUL II, Ontario House.
H H John Paul II and Durand
Toronto
Andrew Ciechanowiecki
1984
Montreal and Toronto
p o r t r a i t - s a c r e d
Exhibitions, Musèe Ramsay, Montreal, and City Hall, Toronto.
H H JOHN PAUL II
H H THE DALAI LAMA AT THE CONVENT OF SAN ANSELMO
COMMUNION OF MOTHER THERESA
AT THE HOLY DOOR
MYSTIC MARRIAGE
SECRET BETWEEN BROTHERS
p o r t r a i t
ANDREW CIECHANOWIECKI
EMMA SARGEANT
First of five portraits of Alex Baumann, Canadian swimmer and double Olympic gold medal.
Olympiad Symposium
1985
London
a l l e g o r y
OLYMPIAD SYMPOSIUM
Commissioned by Lord Ennals for the United Nations Association to inaugurate Peace Year 1986. Acquired by The Aquatic Hall of Fame and Museum of Canada, Winnipeg. Featured on the cover of Arts Review September 13th, 1985.
Olympiad Symposium
(detail)
Olympiad Symposium
(detail)
Olympiad Symposium
(detail)
Olympiad Symposium
(detail)
Robert Smith, the Director of UNICEF, has had the perspicacity to discover Durand and Lord Ennals, in his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations Association of Great Britain and Ireland, commissioned the large narrative composition OLYMPIAD SYMPOSIUM, to inaugurate Year of Peace 1986.
Durand has taken as his theme youthful, multi racial ideology and the picture he has painted is based on the Olympic ideal. Durand’s admiration for the sound mind, sound body ethic is defiantly bold, even aggressive. The five swimmers are posed in an empty Olympic pool in Rhodes.
Clad only in their Speedos the five swimmers link hands symbolically, passing the Olympic flame, spirit of the Vestal Virgins and the Olympics, between themselves. A little boy, the spirit of hope for the future, poses winningly with his father, in the bottom left corner of the composition.
Rather like the backdrop in a theatre the Acropolis at Lindos is set behind and above the empty pool. In this complex composition Durand’s considerable knowledge of the nude has resulted in harmony between the athletes: the classical cross composition is cleverly echoed by setting the athletes in size order with the tallest, black swimmer to the fore.
The colour scheme is harsh and almost contemporary in the bottom half, with turquoise shadows; and the soft and ‘ancient’ colouring is reserved for the top half of the composition. This startling juxtaposition of colour schemes, united by the olive tree, traditional symbol of the Olympics, intergrates the Ancient and Modern Olympic ideal.
Arts Review 13 September 1985
