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Roger Lafortune

Fonds

Roger Lafortune
Date 1954-1995
DimensionsLinear measure: 17 cm
Object NumberP797
CollectionMcCord
CreditGift of Roger Lafortune, graphic designer and calligraph, and Carina Marinelli, responsible of honorary members and the archives of the Société des designers graphiques du Québec
Biographical Sketch

Born in Montreal in 1931, Roger Lafortune is a Quebec graphic designer. He entered the École des beaux-arts de Montréal in graphic communications at the age of 16 and graduated in 1953. With a scholarship from the Dutch government, he continued his studies at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Returning to Canada, he earned a bachelor's degree in education from Université de Montréal in 1956. He later enrolled in a continuing education program at Université Laval, which he completed in 1976.

Roger Lafortune worked as a designer for several Montreal graphics firms from 1954 to 1960 before becoming the artistic director of Châtelaine magazine and the Expo 67 Official Guide. In the early 1970s, he was head of the Quebec government's graphic arts department before becoming a graphic consultant to help the Algerian government set up a graphic arts department in one of its government training centres. After teaching graphic arts and calligraphy at Université Laval and Cégep de Sainte-Foy in the 1980s, he finally started his own firm in 1990.

Involved in the graphic design profession, in 1967 he was vice-president of the Graphica Club of Montreal. In 1972, he and Georges Beaupré co-founded the Société des graphistes du Québec (Quebec society of graphic designers), which he served as vice-president in 1985. He was also editor-in-chief of the magazine Graphisme Québec from 1985 to 1988, and of the graphic arts magazine PAP (prêt-à-photographier). In 1987, he was elected an honorary member of the Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ).

 

Source: Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ) (n.d). "Roger Lafortune." Accessed at: https://www.sdgq.ca/sdgq-members/roger


Scope and Content

This fonds documents the many professional activities and experiences of Roger Lafortune, a leading Quebec graphic artist and calligrapher. The corpus is composed largely of archives produced or received between 1954 and 1995, when Lafortune was working freelance. There are projects designed and carried out for a variety of organizations like the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine, the Centre d’art de Percé theatre, publishing house Les Éditions de l’Homme and Hydro-Québec. Several copies of magazines and newsletters provide examples of his design, page layout and illustration work. Various publications and printed items document his roles as artistic director of the Expo 67 Official Guide (1967) and head of the Quebec government visual identity program (1968-1974).

 

In addition, programs, conference schedules, correspondence and résumés chronicle Lafortune's teaching career and his many professional engagements. The fonds also contains information about a Compagnons de Lurs trip to Quebec in 1973 and a 1975 trip to France by a group of Quebec graphic designers.

 

Photographs in the fonds document covers Lafortune created for the magazines Châtelaine and Québec Science and various books and booklets. A series of negatives, some of which include prints, help document the 1975 trip to France, and a collection of slides chronicles Lafortune's research on hand-crafted signs in Quebec. Finally, the fonds contains three series of photographs Lafortune probably used when teaching his CEGEP classes.


Classification Scheme

P797/A Biographical and Professional Information

P797/B Achievements

P797/C Other Activities


Notes

Source of title proper: Title based on the creator of the fonds.

Physical description: The fonds contains 20.5 cm of textual records and 9 iconographic documents.

Physical condition: Overall, the documents are well preserved.

Immediate source of acquisition: This fonds was donated to the McCord Stewart Museum by Roger Lafortune and certified graphic designer Carina Marinelli, the SDGQ member in charge of honorary members and archives.

Arrangement: The fonds was not arranged in any particular order when it was acquired. It was therefore organized according to its creator's activities.

Language: The documents are primarily in French, though a few are in English.

Related groups of records: The McCord Stewart Museum holds archival collections associated with the history of graphic design in Quebec as it relates to Montreal's economic and institutional history. In addition to the fonds of Réal Séguin (P791), Rolf Harder (P810), Gilles Robert (P811) and Georges Huel (P790), all honorary members of the SDGQ, the Museum has the John and John Henry Walker Fonds (P729). The McCord Stewart Museum also preserves an extensive collection of archives related to Expo 67 and Man and His World (C146); Lafortune was the artistic director of the official visitor guide.

Accruals: No accruals are expected.

 

Last update : April 05, 2024


Status
Not on view

Information about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.

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This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.