Paul-Émile Borduas was born in St-Hilaire, Quebec in 1905. He apprenticed and worked with Ozias Leduc (1922-1928), studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Montreal (1923-1927), at Maurice Denis's Ateliers d'Art Sacré, Paris (1928-1929), and with Jean Hébert Stevens in Paris (1929). Borduas taught for the French Catholic School Commission, Montreal (1927-1928; 1933-1938), the Collège André-Grasset (1931-1943), and the École du Meuble (1937-1948). He was influenced by the surrealism of André Breton, and later began producing non-figurative works, which he exhibited at the Théâtre de l'Ermitage and the Dominion Gallery in Montreal (1942-1943). He was the leader of Les Automatistes and the author of Refus Global (1948) and Projections Libérantes (1949). He died in Paris in 1960. Jeanne Borduas-Brisebois, Paul-Émile Borduas' sister, corresponded with her brother and collected the contents of the fonds.

The fonds consists of a scrapbook that includes sketches, watercolours, a linocut, photographs, and postcards. The fonds also includes Jeanne Borduas-Brisebois' autograph album containing autographs and accompanying drawings by Paul-Émile Borduas and Ozias Leduc; family photographs; a typescript of Refus Global; correspondence; and related ephemera.

Source of supplied title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.
Immediate source of acquisition: Donated to the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives by Yolande Dupuis, daughter of Jeanne Borduas-Brisebois, in 1997.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Permission to reproduce or publish material from the Jeanne Borduas-Brisebois fonds must be obtained from the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives.