George Lorne Holland Bouchard RCA  (1913 – 1978)

George Lorne Holland Bouchard was a painter, commercial designer and illustrator who was born in Montreal and, except for a period of 13 years in Drummondville, Quebec (1935 to 1948), lived there most of his life.  His mediums were oil, watercolor and tempera.  His subjects were the Arctic and its people, landscapes and cityscapes.  His style was plein air, realism and impressionism.

He studied at the Barnes School of Art under Wilfred M. Barnes and drawing with Maurice Felix at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal (1930 – 32).  Clarence Gagnon and Maurice Cullen were also early influences who recognized his talent.  He has traveled extensively across Canada including at least  four trips to the arctic.  He has also traveled to France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, New York, Massachusetts, Martinique and  St. Lucia.

He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy ( elected ARCA 1943, RCA 1962), the Arts Club of Montreal, the Pen and Pencil Club of Montreal and the Art Directors Club of Montreal.  His first show with the RCA and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) was in 1931 (he was 18).  He exhibited with the RCA until 1967 and the MMFA until 1961.  He has also exhibited  at the CNE (Toronto), and numerous major galleries across the country.  His last show was in 1977.

His work is in numerous private, corporate and public collections.  Some of the public collections are the National Gallery of Canada, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Quebec Provincial Museum, and the Tom Thomson Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (Owen Sound, Ontario).

He is listed in A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald, published by Canadian Paperbacks Ltd. (8 volumes); in The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar, published by Westbridge Publications Ltd. (4 volumes); and in Falk's Who Was Who in American Art (3 volumes).  In addition two of his painting trips were documented in Weekend Magazine in the 1960’s; and in 1969 the TV special Lorne Bouchard - An Artist’s Impression of the Arctic was made by John Basset and broadcast several times.

 
Prepared and contributed by M.D. Silverbrooke