François Sullivan

Biography | Gallery

A founding member of the Automatistes in the 1940s, she was a signatory of the Automatiste manifesto, Refus Global, to which she contributed a seminal essay entitled Dance and Hope. In this essay, Sullivan writes, “...we must discover the effect of these different rhythms on the onlooker, because these rhythms are among our most efficient forces of communication." 1

Sullivan pursued studies in modern dance in New York with Franziska Boas, and in the 1950s she was an innovative dancer and choreographer. In the 1960s as a sculptor, she often created large-scale steel works; in the 1970s her focus was conceptually-based; and by the late 1970s, she returned to painting, which remains the focus of her artwork today. Her practice is truly trans-disciplinary, yet Sullivan often states that she considers painting to be her "essential preoccupation".

Since the early 1960s Sullivan has regularly exhibited in private galleries in Toronto and Montreal, and in numerous countries internationally including Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and Japan. Her work is housed in the collections of museums and universities across Canada. In 2001 she received the Order of Canada, and in 2009 she was promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2002 she received the Order of Québec, and in 2005 she was a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

1. Françoise Sullivan, “Dance and Hope,” in Refus Global, trans. Ray Ellenwood (Toronto: Exile Editions, 1998), 103. Originally published in 1948.