- -John R. Porter was born in Lévis (Quebec, Canada) in 1949. He holds a doctorate from the Université de Montréal, and has had a dual career in museums and teaching art history since 1971. He was assistant curator at the National Gallery of Canada from 1972 to 1978, before joining Université Laval as professor and director of the Centre interuniversitaire d'études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions (CÉLAT), from 1986 to 1989. In 1990, in addition to his academic duties, he became Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In September 1993, he became Director General of the Musée du Québec. As a researcher, he has made many important discoveries in the fields of painting, sculpture, fine crafts and antique furniture. As a pioneer, he explored long-ignored but essential facets of Quebec's heritage. As a museologist, he has curated some fifteen exhibitions, including Un art de vivre, le meuble de goût à l'époque victorienne au Québec, presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City. The book accompanying this exhibition won a prestigious award from the Canadian Museums Association. Under his leadership, the Musée du Québec (later named 'the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec' - MNBAQ) acquired some 4,000 works of art, including Jean-Paul Riopelle's immense triptych L'Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, which since May 2000 has been at the heart of a new permanent room dedicated to this artist. He was also behind the creation of a Jean-Paul Lemieux gallery, a complete overhaul of the museum's galleries and the creation of the sculpture garden. He has enriched the museum's programming with exhibitions showcasing the work of several major Quebec artists. These have given rise to major publications, promoting Quebec art at home and abroad. On the international scene, Mr. Porter has developed partnerships with several countries that have led to the presentation of major exhibitions, including De Gaudi à Tàpies: Maîtres catalans du XXe siècle (1996), James Tissot: Les beautés de la vie moderne (1999-2000), Le Retour des trésors polonais and Les Génies de la mer (2001). He was also the initiator of the remarkable Rodin à Québec exhibition (1998), which met with unprecedented popular success and won awards of excellence from the Société des musées québécois and the Canadian Museums Association. Even before this event, France recognized his unique contribution by naming him Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres in 1998. John R. Porter has received over thirty awards and distinctions as an art historian and museologist. Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République française (1998) and of the Ordre national du Québec (2002), he was named Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'honneur by the President of the French Republic on June 24, 2003. In October of the same year, he received three further distinctions: the Gloire de l'Escolle medal from the Association des diplômés de l'Université Laval, an honorary doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Prix Carrière from the Société des musées québécois. In November 2004, he was awarded the Prix Gérard-Morisset, the Quebec government's highest distinction in the field of heritage. In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Letters and Humanities. The following year, he received the new Meritorious Service Award from the Canadian Museums Association and the Medal of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2007, he was named "Personality of the Week" by the Montreal daily La Presse and "Lauréat de Québec" by the Quebec daily Le Soleil, in addition to receiving the insignia of the Ordre de la Pléiade in recognition of his contribution to the international Francophonie and cultural dialogue. At the end of his term as General Director, the MNBAQ Board of Directors named him "Honorary Director" in recognition of his exceptional achievements from 1993 to 2008. In the same year, he was awarded the Médaille du Centre Jacques Cartier de Lyon and the Médaille du 400e anniversaire de la ville de Québec as a key figure in the programming associated with the 2008 celebrations, as well as the Prix Hommage from the Institut d'administration publique du Québec. On May 20, 2010, he was promoted to Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République française, and in September received the Prix d'honneur from the Société des relations internationales de Québec (SORIQ). Mr. Porter was elected to the Académie des Grands Québécois in April 2010, in recognition of his contribution to the capital's cultural life. On May 8, 2012, he received the Médaille d'honneur from the Quebec National Assembly.- IMDb Mini Biography By: advitam.banq.qc.ca
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