Biography

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His father Alphonse Lespérance and his mother Éva Duval have three children: Alphonse, Lorette and Jeannette. Alphonse Jr. was only 5 years old when his mother died. His father places the children at the Orphelinat Notre-Dame-de-Liesse (Montréal).

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Alphonse and his sisters return to the family home when their father remarries three years later. Alphonse studied at the Académie Saint-Jean-Baptiste located rue Henri-Julien corner Marie-Anne in Montréal, today in the Plateau du Mont-royal district. At the age of 14, he clashes with his stepmother who drives him out of the house. He was taken in by his father's sister, with whom he lived in a more favorable family context for nearly four years.

 

He studied for two years at the École des Beaux-arts in Montreal where his teachers recognized his talent: very young Lespérance liked to draw and was aware of his abilities.

 

At the age of 19, he entered the community, the Congregation of the Sacerdotal Fraternity, a community helping priests in difficulty. We quickly notice the artistic talents of the young novice. He was sent to complete his studies in Rome in 1936. "I enrolled in the AR Rome, where I was accepted after successfully passing the entrance exams. But soon it was war, I was forced to leave the academy and take refuge in the Vatican. "

 

The Second World War broke out in 1939. As a Canadian citizen, a British subject, Lespérance was one of the “allies”, which threatened his freedom in a fascist country. For his protection, he remained in community until 1944, although at that time he had realized that he no longer had a vocation. Also, back in Canada and in his interviews, he will focus on his artistic training in Rome rather than on the religious background that had brought him to Italy.

 

From 1944 to 1945 he returned to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma and during this year he will meet a young Roman woman, Maria-Teresa San Felice, whom he will marry on July 21, 1945. In April 1946, Alphonse accompanied by his wife returned to Montreal, where he pursued a career in teaching the arts, restoring churches and as a painter. He died on August 6, 2003 in Sherbrooke.

Training

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As a child, Lespérance loved to draw, his sisters showed his interest and the aspiring artist was aware of his abilities. While Lespérance remained with his aunt, he enrolled at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal where he studied drawing and painting for two years with professors Georges Delfosse and Adrien Hébert, as well as Edmont Dyonnet and Charles Maillard. All are figurative painters, some from the classical academic tradition and others from movements at the end of the 19th century. They confirm and support Lespérance’s attraction to painting techniques belonging to "Naturalism (painting)." Following these years of study, he left his aunt's family home to enter the Congregation of the Priestly Fraternity: the community decided to send him to Rome to complete his studies in fine arts.

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It should be noted that through Maillard, director of the school of fine arts, and "sworn enemy of avant-garde", Lespérance is witness to a public and conflictual debate precursor of the great socio-cultural changes that Quebec will experience in the years 1940-1950. Artistically, this situation was brought to light by the publication in Montreal in the late 1940s of Refus global and Prisme d'oeil, two manifestos from which Lespérance would stay away.

 

Lespérance left for Italy in 1936, he worked with "... the painters De Simoni, Mezzana and Ridolfi". He made a preparatory year in 1936-37 and obtained a diploma from the Scuola Preparatoria alle Arti Ornamentali, pupil of the class of “decorazione pittorica” with mention “di Merito”, July 1938-XVI, and this gave him access to studies higher . He enrolled in the Royal Academy of Rome where he was accepted after passing the entrance exams. A year later, war declared, he left the Academy and took refuge in the Vatican, and continued his training in studios and on work sites with the painters responsible for maintaining and restoring "... paintings and frescoes which adorn the many buildings. Of the Vatican city ”.

 

In 1949, an entrepreneur entrusted him with the restoration of the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes chapel. The following year, seeing that he could get more money out of running his own affairs, he founded a church decoration and restoration business. He needs helpers: he chooses as an apprentice a promising young student he met at the Salette studio and who had followed him to Stile Romano: Clément Bérini, a Franco-Ontarian born in Timmins. Bérini worked with his master and soon became the foreman of Lespérance's works (1955 to 1960).

 

From the 1960s onwards, the world of church restoration became more and more competitive: following the socio-cultural changes that had taken place in Quebec, known as the “quiet revolution”, the secularization of Quebec culture ensured. that contracts for the decoration and restoration of churches are becoming rarer. Consequently, Lespérance ceased his church restoration activities in 1964. He realized his lifelong dream: building a house-workshop in the Laurentians on the banks of the Red River. He lived there alone and worked as a painter (portrait, still life, figure, landscape) until his death on August 6, 2003.

 

Artwork

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Work locations and commissioned works, according to the list printed on the quote sheets that Lespérance sent to potential clients, as well as lists of exhibitions such as that of Hôtel Windsor in 1966.

 

List of restored and decorated churches:

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• Église St. Joseph, Montréal, Québec

• Église St. Paul, Montréal, Québec

• Église des Sts. Anges Gardiens, Lachine, Québec

• Église Ste. Geneviève, Montréal (Ste-Geneviève), Québec

• Église St. Rémi, Napierville, Québec

• Cathédrale de Notre Dame, Mont-Laurier, Québec

• Séminaire St. Joseph, Mont-Laurier, Québec

• Église St. Michel Archange, Napierville, Québec

• Église St Pascal-Baylon, Montréal, Québec

• Église St. Antoine, Lavaltrie, Québec

• Église St. Joseph, Lanoraie, Québec

• Chapelle des Sœurs Adoratrices du Précieux Sang, Joliette, Québec

• Église St. Martin de Tours, Glen Robertson, Ontario

• Église St. Jean l’Évangéliste (Cathédrale de St-Jean), St-Jean, Québec

• La Présentation de la Ste. Vierge, Dorval, Québec

• Église St. Michel Archange, Belleville, Ontario

• Église St. Pierre aux Liens, Trenton, Ontario

• Église Notre Dame Auxiliatrice, Verdun, Québec

• Église Notre Dame du Carmel, Montréal, Québec

• Chapelle des S. S. de la Providence, L'Assomption, Québec

• Église du Christ Roi, Châteauguay-Bassin, Québec

• Chapelle de l'orphelinat Les Buissonnets, Montréal, Québec

 

​Restauration of paintings:

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• Église Ste. Famille, Boucherville, Québec

• Chapelle de la Maison Mère des Sœurs Grises, Montréal, Québec

• Chapelle de St. Antoine, Ermitage St-Antoine, Lac Bouchette, Québec

• Chapelle des Dominicains, Québec, Québec

 

Painting:

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• • Église Ste. Louise de Marillac, Montréal, Québec

• Chapelle Mère d'Youville, Maison mère des Sœurs Grises, Montréal, Québec

• Chapelle de St. Antoine, Ermitage St. Antoine, Lac Bouchette, Québec

• Chapelle du Sacré Cœur, Couvent de la Réparation, Montréal, Québec

• Église St. Lazare, Vaudreuil, Québec

• Notre Dame des Victoires, Montréal, Québec

 

Commissions:

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In Italy, Lespérance had already painted several portraits, especially for ecclesiastical dignitaries. Upon his return to Canada, he was chosen to paint the Laureates of the prestigious Duvernay Prize: Guy Frégault, Germaine Guévremont, Esdras Minville, Roger Charbonneau.

 

Additional works (non-exhaustive list):

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• Mgr Joseph Charbonneau

• Mgr Percival Caza

• Mgr Édouard Jetté

• Mgr Anastase Forget

• Mgr Philippe Perrier

• Mère Marguerite d’Youville

• Jeanne Le Ber

• Jeanne Mance

• Catherine de Saint-Augustin

• Chanoine Lionel Groulx
   

Solo exhibitions:

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• Hôtel Windsor, Montréal, mars 1966

• Salle de théâtre Le Gésu, Montréal, avril 1966 (exposition partielle)

• Château de Blois, Trois-Rivières, 21 avril 1966

• Domaine Howard, Sherbrooke, 20-29 avril 1968

• Chicoutimi