Turcotte, Roger

A native of Champlain, Roger Turcotte began his training at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, but quickly chose a path against the current. Seeking silence and open space, he left to live in the Far North, among the Inuit, leading for nearly twenty years the life of a trapper.

A change in the law later stripped him of his trapping rights and brought him back south. He first settled in Charlevoix, then on Bonaventure Island, before returning to Champlain, where he spent his final years, weakened by illness.

Upon his return from the North, Turcotte painted an extensive series of northern scenes without photographic references, without easy effects, working solely from memory. Settled in Baie-Saint-Paul, he put down roots there, holding fast to the persistent dream of setting course for Gaspésie aboard his small boat, a dory.

A close friend of the painter René Richard, he worked with rare rigor and a patient technique inspired by traditional methods: layering, depth, and three coats of varnish that give the surface a distinctive presence. Some works could take up to a year to be fully completed.

His paintings have been exhibited in several galleries in Québec City and Baie-Saint-Paul, and remain sought after for their authenticity, their evocation of place, and the quiet strength they convey.