Galerie Molinas

Born in Montreal, Quebec, he studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, under Jean Simard, René Chiseine, Maurice Raymond, Julien Hébert and others; later in Paris under Fernand Leger. He exhibited his work for the first time in 1948 at the First Exhibition of Caricaturists of Canada. In 1949 he won a prize at the 66th Salon du Printemps at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. During his 1963 solo exhibition at the Waddington Galleries, Dorothy Pfeiffer noted the following of his work, "People may argue as to whether or not Normand Hudon's painting falls into a cate­gory of fine art. Yet wit and satire each have played an important part in the arts of painting, sculpture, music and literature throughout the ages. Hudon is an artist in every sense of the word. He stands in a class by himself in Canada. Let us hope we shall be spareda contingent of Hudon-imitators." In this particular show he exhib­ited 56 works all of which Dorothy Pfeiffer found to be ". . . elegantly humorous never merely bitter, brutal, or banal." Robert Ayre4 noted of his 1965 solo exhibit, "Normand Hudon is at the Waddington Galleries with dozens of colored ink draw­ings. They were ideas for the ceiling he is painting for the Energy building of Expo '67, but they can stand alone as lively examples of his imagination and wit." His ceiling at Expo '67 was very well received. He also did the marquette of a mural on commerce in the Canadian pavilion. For a number of years he appeared on television and in night clubs where he entertained his audiences with his wit and cartoons, often with comedian Jacques Normand. Recently he has returned to painting and for this reason has not been featured on television, radio or in night clubs. He was com­missioned to do a mural for the Beaudry Street side of Berrie-DeMontigny Metro station in Montreal which will include as subjects many of the colourful personalities in Montreal's history including Camillien Houde, Louis Cyr (strongman) and others. He consulted Leon Trepanier, noted historian for this work. He was featured as 'artist of the week' by Tele-Radiomonde, Montreal, (Sept. 2, 1967) in which he considered his best subjects for cartooning to have been Duplessis, Sarto Fournier, and Ti-Toine Rivard. He lives in Montreal.
Ref: National Gallery of Canada Information Form rec'd July 2, 1949 (also Tele-Radiomonde, Montreal, Sept. 2, 1967)
The Gazette, Montreal, Nov. (?) 1963 "Normand Hudon" by D.Y.P.
The Montreal Star, Sept. 4, 1965 "Hudon And Toni Onley Open New Season" by Robert Ayre
5The Gazette, Montreal, June 29, 1967 "Ourtown" by Al Palmer
6Tele-Radiomonde, Montreal, Sept. 2, 1967 "L'Artiste de la Semaine"
Thanks to M.Colin S. MacDonald