Pioneer Information
Born in Black Lake, Québec, Vaillancourt was raised in Saint-Ferdinand, Québec, working on his family’s farm. Relocating to Montreal at the age of eighteen he worked on cargo ships as a seaman and traveled extensively throughout the United States. From 1949 to 1950 Vaillancourt studied at the University of Ottawa, subsequently training at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (now Université du Québec à Montréal) from 1951 to 1955. As a student he carved a condemned elm tree along Durocher Street, creating the monumental work, Durocher Street Tree (1953-55), intended to blend performance and sculpture.
Vaillancourt collaborated with landscape architect Lawrence Halprin from 1969 to 1971 to create his only public, permanent work in the United States, Québec Libre! (now Vaillancourt Fountain) in San Francisco. The work was conceived not as an object in space, but as an “environmental event.” Nearly a decade later Vaillancourt produced the fountain Justice (1980) on the grounds of the Québec Courthouse in Québec City, borrowing visual elements from Québec Libre!
In a career which has spanned more than half a century, Vaillancourt employs painting, sculpture, and performance to probe social and political issues. His monumental sculptures are often integrated into the landscape and encourage public interaction. For example, Justice et Paix (1986) located in Wilfrid-Bastien Park, Saint-Léonard, Québec, features two boulders fitted with ladders. Other pieces evoke works of architecture, including L’Enchantement (2007) at the Cirque du Soleil's International Headquarters in Montréal and L’Éveil Collectif in Gaspé, Québec. In addition to sculpture, Vaillancourt designed an expansive, geometric footbridge (1990) across a river in Plessisville, Québec.
Vaillancourt was awarded the Prix-Émile-Borduas by the Québec government in 1993 and was given the title of Chevalier of the National Order of Québec in 2004. He was named Grand Officer of the National Order of Québec in 2023. He currently resides in Montréal, Canada.
