Biography
Albert V. Breau

Take note: List of art galleries and exhibitions at the end of this text.

Albert's Childhood

Albert Victorin Breau's life began in 1941, in Moncton N.B. By the time he was two years old his parents were divorced and while his twelve older siblings were placed in homes run by nuns, Albert went to live with his paternal Grandparents on a farm in the back woods of the Memramcook valley. Their nearest neighbors were an hour's walk away. It's understandable that his young formative years were spent in the presence of adults. All he had as playmates were cats, dogs and other farm animals, plus his fertile imagination.

"From the time I could walk, I started riding my dogs, and then I graduated to sheep. Once, I tried riding the ram, but he bucked me off, then head butted me black and blue. One of my uncles heard me crying and ran to my rescue. After that my grandfather let me ride one of his workhorses, a great big gentle chestnut called, Prince. I was four or five at the time and he'd lift me on and off that horse. I'd sit on him for hours as he pulled a wagon or walked up and down ploughing fields for next season's crops. When I wasn't riding, I was playing cowboys and Indians; sometimes I was the cowboy and other times the brave Indian warrior. The cats and chickens served as my enemies. The cows in the pasture were the buffalo that I hunted to feed my family. Once, my grandparents took me to the circus in Moncton; the lion trainer amazed me. A few days later I tried to convince my cats to play the lion's role, but they wouldn't cooperate, so I turned to my dogs. I had more success with them, but where I ran into trouble was when I tried to get them to jump through a ring of fire." he laughs. "They ran away, and I got a whipping for setting a hay field on fire."

"We didn't have any electricity, so I spent the long winter evenings at the kitchen table in the pale glow of an oil lamp, drawing stick men and horses and making up stories for each picture."

When he was eight he returned to live with his father and his new wife. His father beat him most of the time, so he was covered black and blue. Albert who had always stuttered found his handicap worsening anytime he was near his father. He was registered for school but since he had never been to school nor learned to cooperate with other children, plus his stuttering, he was placed in a special class for children with learning problems, communally called "stupid class", where the only thing they did to keep them occupied all day was drawing and handicraft. At the end of the day, the teacher would read them stories, Tom Sayer, Évangéline and the Acadian deportation. That's where he learned to hate the English. After school, Albert and his friends would meet the students from the English school and beat them up to defend their ancestors reputation. At night time, Albert returned to his English neighborhood and play with his English friends.

A Boxer was born

At home, the only privilege his father allowed him was to listen to the Friday night boxing matches (Gillette's cavalcade of sport). He dreamed of becoming a boxer. His father laughed and said: "You have two God damn left feet, you'll get your head knocked off." Albert laughs. "He was right, I did have two left feet, but there is one thing I have that he didn't realize, and that's determination, when my mind was set on something there was no turning back. When I was young and a member of my family told me I couldn't do something, because I didn't have the talent or the training I'd found a way to prove them wrong."

Albert returned regularly to his grandfather on weekends and holydays. Since he had difficulties learning at school, his father just pulled him out of school and said: "Stupid like you are, you are better of on the farm". By the time he was ten, he worked with the adults. "We'd get up at five in the morning and work until six, seven o'clock in the evening. But I can tell you one thing; not one hour went by that my mind wasn't making up some kind of stories. Through my imagination I lived different adventures from the time I woke up until I went to bed. And you want to know something; my mind has never stopped creating adventures for me. The only difference now is that I can see that the more appealing ones become reality."

Albert Victorin Breau stayed with his grandparents until the age of fourteen, when he decided to join his mother and older brothers and sister who had all migrated to Montreal. After some misaventure, he found his way to a boxing gym. He lost his first twelve amateur fights. After each lost he would hear his father's word: "You have two God Damn left feet..." True his perseverance, he persisted and won over a hundred amateur. The sportswriters named him "Ace" Breau, and continued calling him "Ace" right through to the end of his boxing carrier. As an amateur, his won over one hundred fights and numerous tournaments (Golden "Gloves, Diamond Gloves, Canadian championship) before turning professional. As a professional, he fought fifty eight times.

In 1967, he beat Fernand Simard to win the Canadian Junior welterweight Championship. He took great pleasure in flaunting each one of his victories in his father's face.

Thanks to his Mohawk wife, Eileen, he learned to read and write in his mid twenties. After his boxing career was over he started working as a blacksmith, a trade he had learned from his grandfather. He worked showing horses for a few years, until one horse didn't like Albert as much as he liked him and broke his right arm. While his arm was in a cast, Eileen bought him a little paint set from a craft shop. Laughing he says, "It's a good thing I'm left handed, other wise I never would have started playing with those oil paints."

The Artist

It wasn't long before his playing turned to serious painting and his life saw another change. Again, he was laughed at when he talked about becoming an artist. "Heh! An ex-fighter thinking he can become an artist..."

Since then, he has built a solid reputation as painter and watercolorist. And over the years he has also written some stage plays, a novel, and also pages of poetry. These are all things that other didn't believe he could do. "The only one who never questions me or my abilities was Eileen. We aren't together anymore, but I thank her for that." He also experimented with sculpture.

The Author

He took some classes in dramatic art. That's how he learned to control his stuttering.

And with time, he grew more comfortable with reading, and started writing poetry and also a few stage plays like "Le vernissage" which was performed in Laval, and the novel "Les ombres rouges" published in 1998.

Art as a Way of Life

When asked about his goals, his answer is spontaneous. "Longevity. I want to live to be a very old man so I can love my family and friends as long as possible. I want to paint, write and continue learning all I can about life. Oh yes, I also want to go on dancing and playing it by ear all the way. My grandfather, "Josh" Breau, lived a long full life. He died one week short of his 110th birthday. What I remember most about him is his big toothless smile and his hardy laugh. He was a kind gentle, man and I'm sure he passed on with that toothless grin creasing his leathered face and being thankful for his long and fruitful life. Many of my ancestors lived into their nineties and a few into their hundreds. Some of my uncles and aunties are into their nineties now and still going strong. And with genes like that, I have a good change of reaching my ultimate goal!"

Breau doesn't hold the ideological premise that life is all beauty or bliss. He realizes that a great deal of life is not pleasing and for that reason he seeks out rare glimpse of beauty - often infinitesimal, fleeting moments in nature- which he hold as precious and life renewing. His canvases show an intimate part of the real world. He is capable of capturing a sunset, a waterfall. A quiet peaceful world of snow laden solitude.

"I believe that all my small personal triumphs surpass the more recognizable emblems of false revelation, and truth penetrate man's entire existence far more deeply then do enormous passion, applause or financial reward. It is within these instants that I see the l meaning in life. I paint because I like painting, I strive to capture Nature's meaning and her ever-changing mood."

Albert Victorin Breau sees art as a way of life, a way of communicating. He intertwines his inner feelings with what he sees, and paints nature's statements fluidly on canvas.

Through Breau's paintings, we can see how the strain from the commercial world and lack of creative freedom and a more contemplative and meaning life style. He says, "Seclusion allows my creativity to blossom, gives me a chance to understand and appreciate the world that others have put on the back burner for to long. I'm conscious that I have but one life to live and I don't want to waste it on trivia?"

From Boxing to Art

"The experiment of art is a never-ending adventure", Breau says, he doesn't attack a project with a clear vision of reality. "Like other areas of my life, when I'm creating, I'm not totally conscious of all that is happening. My work takes on an energy of its own, and my job is to allow it to flow freely and to place no limitations on its."

"You know what amazes me the most? I still have the same enthusiasm when I'm facing an artistic challenge as I had when I was a young man stepping into a boxing ring. I had over a hundred and sixty fights, amateur as well as professional, and each one of those opponents offered different challenge- style-strength-size- speed- intelligence. Sometimes all of these qualities were found in one especially talented boxer. Like all other areas of life, art has its challenges- colour- form- size composition and nature's ever changing moods, plus my own limits."

Albert Victorin Breau stays true to himself and doesn't try to be something he's not. No shock treatment, or political massages - only composition based on tranquil scenes - scenes that simply resemble him.

Lise Fortin

Galleries exposing his artwork

Galleries	Site
Covent Garden (US & West Canadian's Agent)	Wellington	Ontario, Canada
Galerie Knowlton	Lac Brome	Québec, Canada
Galerie Michel-Ange	Vieux-Montréal	Québec, Canada
Canada Galerie Allur	Rosemère	Québec, Canada
Artothèque	Montréal	Québec, Canada
Chase créations	Beaconsfield	Québec, Canada
Galeria	Montréal	Québec, Canada

Books containing his artwork

Title	Author/Publisher	Year of publication
Le Guide Vallée Édition I	Félix Vallée
Le Guide Vallée Édition II	Félix Vallée	1989
Le Guide Vallée Édition III	Félix Vallée	1993-94
Guide de Roussan	Éd. de la Roche	2004
Guide de Roussan	Roussan Éditeur	2002
Guide de Roussan	Roussan Éditeur	2000
Guide de Roussan Peintres du Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1999
Guide de Roussan	Roussan Éditeur	1998
Peintres du Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1995
Peintres du Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1993-94
Marché de la peinture au Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1991-92
Marché de la peinture au Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1990
Marché de la peinture au Québec	Roussan Éditeur	1989-90
200 visions nouvelles	Éditions La palette	1990
Québec en peinture	De Roussan	1989
Charlevoix en peinture	Roussan Éditeur	1988
Investir dans les Oeuvres d'art	Éditions La palette	1988
Les Ombres Rouges - Roman	Éditions Émeraudes	1998

SOLO Exhibitions

Year	Gallery	Site
1998	Le chevalet expo et lancement de livre	Laval	QC, Canada
1993	The City of St-John Gallery	St-John	NB, Canada
1993	Expo City Gallery	St-John	NB, Canada
1992	La maison Antoine-Lacombe	St-Ch. Borromée	QC, Canada
1991	Centre culturel	Grand-Sault	NB, Canada
1991	Centre Culturel de St-Félicien	St-Félicien	QC, Canada
1991	Arts works Gallery 21	Glenns Falls	NY, USA
1989	Centre civique	Dolbeau	QC, Canada
1986	Arts and Mic	Châteauguay	QC, Canada
1986	Auberge La Diligence	Dolbeau	QC, Canada
1986	Cégep de St-Félicien	St-Félicien	QC, Canada
1985	Hôtel de ville de Chibougamau	Chibougamau	QC, Canada
1985	La Galerie McKinnon Piché	Lévis	QC, Canada
1985	Kingston Center	Kingston	ONT
1985	Château Laurier	Ottawa	ONT
1985	Centre francophone St-Boniface	St-Boniface	Manitoba
1985	Kings County Center	Sussex	N-B.
1985	Souris City Hall	Souris	Manitoba
1985	Winsweeped Gallery	Calgary	Alb.
1985	Algo Culturel Center Sault Ste-Marie	Ontario	QC, Canada
1985	Centre civique de Dolbeau	Dolbeau	QC, Canada
1982	Holiday Inn - Sault Ste-Marie	S Ste-Marie	ONT
1982	Holiday Inn - Souris	Souris	Manitoba
1982	Holiday Inn - -Edmonton et Calgary		ALB
1982	Château Laurier	Ottawa	ONT
1982	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC, Canada
1982	Centre culturel - Sussex	Sussex	N.B.
1980	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC, Canada
1979	Galerie André Georges	Montréal	QC, Canada
1978	L'Atelier Vandergreest	Montréal	QC, Canada
1977	La Compagnie Rothmans de Pall Mall Canada Ltée	Sherbrooke	QC, Canada
1976	Expo St-Eustache	St-Eustache	QC, Canada
1975	Centre Culturel de Charlottetown	Charlott.	P.E.I
1975	Cambridge	Cambridge	ON, Canada
1975	Ajax-Pickering	Ajax-Pickering	ON, Canada
1975	Glasgow	Glasgow	N.E.
1975	St-Jean	St-Jean	TN, Canada
1975	Centre Culturel de Kingston	Kingston	ON, Canada

DUO - TRIO Exhibitions

Year	Gallery	Site
1993	Galerie Restigouche	Campbelton	NB
1993	Galerie Ladouceur	Laval	QC
1992	Centre culturel de Cornwall	Cornwall	ON
1990	M A T	Laval	QC
1989	Galerie M.A.T.	Laval	QC
1987	La Galerie Gaby Lamothe	Grandmère	QC
1980	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC
1979	Lynn Kottler Gallery	New York	USA
1978	Galerie Hudson	Hudson	QC

Group Exhibitions

Year	Gallery	Site
1993	Galerie Restigouche	Campbelton	NB
1991	Galerie Michel-Ange	Montréal	QC
1989	Hôtel de ville de Québec	Québec	QC
1988	Galerie Michel Ange	Montréal	QC
1988	Auberge de nos Aieux	Les Éboulements	QC
1987	Galerie d'art La Relève	Laval	QC
1986	Galerie d'art Lisette Martel	Montebello	QC
1985	Johnson Gallery Edmonton	Edmonton	AB
1982	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Montréal	QC
1982	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC
1981	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Montréal	QC
1981	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Montréal	QC
1980	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC
1980	Galerie Claude Lafitte	Laval	QC

Radiophonic & Television Interviews

Title	Date	Animation	Réalisation	Channel
Beau comme le monde	20.06.1999	Josée Chasoillez	Michel Morin	CBC, Radio-Canada
Albert V. Breau	1991	Bob Mc Debelth	T.V. Montréal	CBC, Radio-CAnada
"À l'affiche"	02.1982	Danielle Charbonneau	Yvonne Lortigau	CBOFT-9, Canal 9 Câble11
Droit au coeur	28.03.06	France Castel		Télévision Radio Canada

-30-