Marie-Eve Beaupré
Guido Molinari Foundation
General and Artistic Director
For the second year, the Guido Molinari Foundation is thrilled to present works selected by our curatorial team for the exhibition to benefit Les Éditions Esse. Every year, the exhibition and catalogue that accompany the Vendu–Sold auction provide an opportunity to discover, document, and acquire works by remarkable artists.
It seems perfectly appropriate to host this event, considering the transactional and relational history of the Foundation’s building—a former bank, converted into a studio—that now houses our museum; in fact, this place was founded by an artist who was a passionate lifelong collector of works by artists he admired. Guido Molinari (1933–2004), with support from the sharp eye and mind of his life partner, Fernande Saint-Martin (1927–2019), built a collection of almost eight hundred works by Québec, Canadian, and international artists. Among other things, their acquisitions reveal the importance of teaching in their lives and an understanding of how, each in his or her own way, Guido and Fernande taught.
The exhibition Faire école. Fernande Saint-Martin and Guido Molinari: A Life in Teaching features a selection of works and archives from our permanent collection created by Fernande and Guido’s fellow professors and their students at UQAM and Concordia University, where each, respectively, worked.
So, the Foundation’s team is delighted to invite artists, collectors, and the authors and readers of Esse to discover an exhibition that highlights collecting. We hope that it will inspire the acquisitions made during the Vendu–Sold auction, which has become a must-see rendez-vous for lovers of contemporary art. It is a wonderful opportunity to reiterate your commitment to supporting artists and enabling Les Éditions Esse spread the word about contemporary art.
It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the Foundation!
Biographical note
Art historian and field practitioner Marie-Eve Beaupré was appointed general and artistic director of the Guido Molinari Foundation in spring 2023. Over the last twenty years, she has collaborated with institutions, museums, galleries, and artist-run centres as a conservator, curator, author, administrator, and jury member. She was Collection Curator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2016–23) and Curator of Contemporary Québec and Canadian Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2014–16). She has also contributed to exhibition, acquisition, and research projects with the Musée national des beauxarts du Québec (2010–14) and the Galerie de l’UQAM (2004–12). Her enriching exchanges with artists over the years, as well as her work inventorying the studios of Edmund Alleyn, Sylvia Safdie, John Heward, Betty Goodwin, and Guido Molinari, have grounded her knowledge and comprehension of and her respect for the art ecosystem in which she participates.