Valentin Gallery

Valentin Gallery was a Canadian art gallery in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1934 as L'Art français by Louis and Lucienne Lange. It became the oldest gallery in Montreal and one of the most significant commercial venues for the promotion of Québécois and Canadian art. Under its original name, it introduced European modernism to Montreal audiences before shifting its focus to Canadian artists during World War II. After Jean-Pierre Valentin purchased the gallery in 1975, it became a leading advocate for established and emerging Québécois painters and sculptors until its closure in December 2020.

Louis Lange (1890-1956), originally from Belgium, and Lucienne Lange (1900-1992), from France, arrived in Montreal in the early 1930s. In 1934 they opened L'Art français at 370 Laurier Avenue West in Outremont as a framing shop selling reproductions of French paintings. The first exhibition of original work occurred in 1936, featuring Fleurimont Constantineau, and initiated an uninterrupted program of exhibitions. Louis Lange travelled to France and Belgium to acquire European paintings, while also exhibiting young Canadian painters. World War II interrupted these importations, prompting a decisive turn toward Canadian art. After Louis died in 1956, Lucienne continued directing the gallery. In 1975, Jean-Pierre Valentin, a French-born art dealer born in 1949 in the Vosges region, purchased the gallery. He moved it to Sherbrooke Street and renamed it Valentin Gallery. In July 2019, the gallery returned to Laurier Avenue, shortly before Valentin's death on 27 December 2019. Operations ceased on 18 December 2020.

The gallery's holdings and exhibition program evolved dramatically across its history. Initially stocked entirely with French art, L'Art français shifted during the 1940s to emphasize Canadian painting, particularly modernist and contemporary Québécois work. By the 1950s, Canadian painters formed the main feature of exhibitions. Under Valentin's direction from 1975, the gallery abandoned French art entirely to concentrate on Québécois and Canadian artists, ranging from historical figures to contemporary practitioners. The gallery maintained particular strength in the work of Marc-Aurèle Fortin, whose research archives were sufficiently extensive that the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec drew upon them for a museum exhibition. The gallery also assisted in locating works in private collections for museum exhibitions. Anniversary exhibitions, notably the 70th anniversary, presented retrospectives of major Canadian paintings sold across the decades.

The gallery represented and exhibited numerous significant Canadian artists. During the Lange era, these included Marc-Aurèle Fortin, who began his association with the gallery in 1940 and held solo exhibitions every two years; Philip Surrey, who appeared by the 1940s; Henri Masson, with solo exhibitions in 1943 and 1944; René Richard, whose first solo exhibition was held in 1943; and sculptor Jordi Bonet. Other exhibited artists included Adrien Hébert, Alfred Laliberté, Clarence Gagnon, Horatio Walker, Cornelius Krieghoff, Emily Carr, Goodridge Roberts, Stanley Cosgrove, Ozias Leduc, and members of the Automatiste and abstract surrealist circles including Riopelle, Pellan, and Borduas. Miyuki Tanobe, discovered by Lucienne Lange in the early 1970s, remained a fixture under both directorships. Under Valentin, retrospective exhibitions featured Dallaire, Molinari, and Brandtner. Contemporary artists exhibited included Christian Deberdt, Geneviève Jost, Élène Gamache, Pearl Levy, Jeannette Perreault, Maja Vodanovic, Henry Wanton Jones, Stanislav Germanov, Thérèse Lacasse, and Guylaine Beauchemin, alongside sculptors such as Frank Vondrejs.

The gallery originated at 370 Laurier Avenue West in Outremont, Montreal, operating from this address through its L'Art français period and into the early Valentin years. After Jean-Pierre Valentin's 1975 purchase, the gallery relocated to Sherbrooke Street, where it remained for decades. In July 2019, shortly before Valentin's death, the gallery returned to its origins on Laurier Avenue.

Valentin Gallery was a commercial gallery located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded as a private enterprise by the Langes and remained under private ownership throughout its existence, with Jean-Pierre Valentin purchasing it in 1975. The gallery held a prominent position within Canadian art dealing: Valentin served on the Board of Trustees of the Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada in 1977, became its youngest president in 1981, and was re-elected in 1983, serving as outgoing president for four additional years. He also sat on the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board betweenarrow between 2003 and 2005. The gallery ceased all activities on 18 December 2020, ending 86 years of continuous operation.