Claire Beaugrand-Champagne, McCord Museum

Claire Beaugrand-Champagne

Touching Reality, Photographs from 1970-2013

December  5, 2013  - April 13, 2014

This exhibition is dedicated to works of a celebrated Montreal photographer Claire Beaugrand-Champagne who was the first female press photographer in Quebec. In the image below to the left she is seen posing next to her large and expressive photo.

The present exhibition at the Montreal's McCord Museum is featuring close to 200 mostly black and white photographs, and except for three they are all of people, many of them portraits. Since 1970, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has photographed people she met and who inspired her. Her works state that every individual is unique, and each is worthy of respect, acknowledgement and special attention.

One of the most remarkable portrait at the exhibition, right in the first hall, is that of the Quebec's chansonnier Félix Leclerc.

Through her work, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has been portraying, expressing the mosaic of the society. Yet it is clear that she does not judge, she simply documents.

The exhibition is organized in groups of what she herself calls Projects. As she explains, this is how she approaches her work: she establishes the current Project and then searches for the subjects to express it. Below are photos from her Furriers Project.

Only the original photographs shot in Quebec are displayed on the Museum's walls. Those taken outside of Canada are projected on the wall, as is the case of the image below from the Refugee Camps Project. 

The last room of the exhibition is devoted to the Montrealers. Below is a fine example of a Montreal man's portrait.

McCord Museum's website:

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en