Rita Letendre (b.1928) is one of Canada’s leading abstract painters...and one of Caviar20's favourite artists.

Early in her career, Letendre was associated with Les Automatistes (which included Borduas and Riopelle amongst others) in Montreal's avant-garde circles of the 1950s. However in the 1960's she propelled her reputation by embracing hard-edge abstraction.

We are particularly interested in her work once she meets, and then marries, the sculptor Kosso Eloul in the mid 1960s. Together they seem to evolve simultaneously, each artist influencing the other. (Click here to see a paradigm of Rita Letendre's graphic chevron paintings from 1972)

Around 1980, her style loosened significantly from her iconic chevron works. Letendre began working more frequently on paper, and her aesthetic revisited some of the gestural techniques and formal approaches similar to when she launched her career in Montreal. However despite this shift from hard-edge abstraction, Letendre continued to use rich, saturated colors often contrasted with dense black spaces. Such techniques and palettes, as well as revealing titles such as "Storm" seem to suggest an acknowledgement of the influence of nature or landscape on the artist's work.

"Storm" is vibrant and emblematic of one of Ritat Letendre's works on paper. We love its undeniable uplifting energy and its dynamic palette.

Nearly every major institution in Canada has examples of her work in their permanent collections including the National Gallery, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Gallery of Ontario.