Henri Masson

Henri Léopold Masson L.L. D. (January 10, 1907 – February 9, 1996) was a Canadian painter, known for his depictions of scenes in the province of Quebec.

Career Henri Masson (born in Spy, Belgium) was introduced to art as a youngster and had an early ambition to be an artist. He studied art in high school in Brussels as a teenager and came to Canada with his mother in 1921. They settled in Ottawa, where he was employed in a metal-engraving shop. He became a master engraver at the age of 25, a profession he would maintain until 1945.

Visiting the National Gallery of Canada he discovered the work of the Group of Seven and decided to become a painter. He studied at the Ottawa Art Association with George Rowles and Franklin Brownell. the Art Gallery of Ontario; the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ont.; the Remai Modern, Saskatoon; Art Gallery of Windsor; and internationally in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. In 1955, Masson received an LL.D. from Assumption College (now Assumption University), Windsor, Ontario.

From 1948 to 1950 he was instructor of children's classes at the National Gallery of Canada; instructor at Queen's University Summer School (1948-1952); Banff School of Fine Arts (1954); Ashbury College, Ott. (1954); Doon School of Fine Arts, Ont. (1960-1964), and taught private classes at his studio. In 1994, he was made Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2001 the city of Ottawa honoured Masson and photographer Yousuf Karsh for their contributions to Canadian art by naming its 457-square-metre gallery space at City Hall the Karsh-Masson Gallery.