Fine art
Wilfrid Corbeil opened an art studio at the Séminaire de Joliette in 1931, at age 38.
After graduating from the Monument national de Montréal, he had been part of the
heady Paris scene in the 1920s. Very few boy's colleges were teaching art at the time, and
the fine arts schools in Montreal and Quebec City had been in existence for less than a
decade.
At the same time, Corbeil began to design sets for the
plays put on by the Séminaire, something he would continue to do for close to 20 years.
When the curtain rose, his sets were often greeted with lengthy applause, and some
considered Corbeil sufficiently gifted to be working in the theatre in New York.
In 1942, Corbeil was instrumental in bringing some of the
avant-garde artists of the day to the Séminaire, organizing an exhibition of 24 works by
"the masters of modern painting". These included the first automatist work by
Paul-Émile Borduas, fully 6 years before the Refus global manifesto.
The following year, in 1943, an art museum (the
forerunner to the Musée d'art de Joliette) was founded on the grounds of the
Séminaire, and its first works of art were acquired.
Corbeil's passion was infectious. He inspired local
residents and former students to become art collectors. In 1951, Max Boucher, c.s.v., a
sensitive teacher, an art historian with an analytical approach, took over as head of the
art studio and art teacher at the Séminaire. He constantly incorporated new elements into
his paintings and sculptures.
