LABBÉ, Lise
Available Works
Available photolithographs
About the artist
Born in the late 1930’s into a working class Montreal family, Lise Labbe now lives and paints in the Laurentians. She is a self-taught painter that has made a name for herself all over Canada as one of the foremost Art Naïf painters.
Inspiration comes to her from growing up in Montreal, the daughter of a snack bar/candy store owner. Money was tight, but with her imagination, she created a new world in the back alleys. They were a microcosm of what was happening all around the city; filled with both merchants and children going about their business. Lise Labbe has brought back to life the days when children loved to play outside, and could play carefree outside in the city; a time that has become much too far away from present reality.
Although she drew quite a bit as a child, Lise Labbe put everything on hold when she married at a very young age. When her only child began attending kindergarten, she found herself with plenty of free time and decided to redevelop her artistic talents. When she presented her paintings to galleries, the ones featuring children were the ones that sparked interest. That gave her the idea to focus on these children, and she has now built up a large group of admirers. She creates nostalgic images with deep perspective of both the city and country lives of children, reminding past generations of their childhood while showing today’s youth what the past was really like.
