A work of art can be viewed in many different ways.

A rapid glance is often enough to make a first judgment: it appeals to my taste or it doesn’t. Nothing more to say; but in other circumstances, a work seems to come to life and to speak to us directly. A cursory glance is far from sufficient; questions arise and occupy our minds. Why did the artist choose such and such a palette of colours? Why such bold brush strokes? Why such sudden and intense bursts of colour? Why has part of the canvas been left untouched, unpainted? We are suddenly confronted with the world of imagination of the artist and are given a glimpse of her soul…The artist has spoke to us…yet still we ponder: what is she trying to tell us?

The works by Viviane Case-Fox are imbued with such depth and force to the point of challenging the viewer whom they invite to a closer scrutiny. Oils are superimposed with rich transparency; they guide the eye to a second plane within the work. Colour – which is the main theme evident in this work – is ever present in the opus of works by Case-Fox.

Colour leads us into a world of succulence and a universe of contrasts in which the spontaneity of the composition is transformed into allegory: where the obstinate and relentless strokes of the brush have a created a fine balance for the eye: the artist demonstrates a great force of will in her desire to communicate: it is the spur that has led her to create works that are bursting with love and passion.

It was many years ago that I fell in love with the work of Viviane Case-Fox. There is one in particular that touched me deeply. There are two characters in this work: according to many commentators, both are anonymous, yet according to others, they are reminiscent of close relatives, family personalities or friends. I see them as my accomplices that bind me closely to the marvellous world of Case-Fox. They continue even to this day to attract my attention, bring a smile to my face, challenge my scrutiny and raise still more
questions in my mind.


Viviane Case-Fox,
Woman of immense vitality, energy and passion
Mother, full of generosity and commitment
Artist with a sensitive heart and love for colour

By Benoit Beauchamp



The Pigments of Life’s Colours


It was the time between the lights when colours undergo their intensification […]; when for some reason the beauty of the world revealed and yet soon to perish […] has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

    A room of one’s own, an oasis of one’s own and a refuge to harbour the other within one’s self …

In a studio on the left bank of the Lachine Canal, the artist painter, Viviane Case-Fox practices her art. She is surrounded by several works in progress, by art books, such as the highly colourful book on Joan Mitchell, and by her personal furnishings and accoutrements, all of which bathe in the natural light of day…this is her daily environment. The doorway to her room opens on to the hallway, thus creating continuity between the intimate inner space and the space beckoning from outdoors, continuity between movement and spontaneity.

Born into a Hungarian family that settled in Montreal in the 1950s, Viviane Case-Fox and her sister grew up in the North-East of Montreal. Her father, a ship’s carpenter, gave up his trade and became a merchant. He died however when Viviane was 13 years old and the bonds between the mother and two sisters solidified as the family had to survive. Today at age 84, her mother remains faithful in her role. Viviane has maintained the warm family bonds which began in her childhood – then she married one Francis Fox with whom she had a daughter Julianna and a son Daniel. She has also maintained, from her childhood, perseverance in study and in work as well as profound respect for the diversity of experiences.

Viviane Case-Fox has had a very broad range of professional experience. At the age of 14, measuring 5 feet 10 inches, and encouraged by her mother, she began a career in fashion. In a few short years she was hired by the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency and won First Prize in the Modeling Association of America competition in New York. She was only 21 years old! She was flattered to be invited to pursue a fashion career in New York, but was also anxious to return to Montreal to her family and friends. She went through a terrible dilemma. She finally chose to return and began a career with Air Canada first in Toronto then in Montreal.

Later on, Viviane was invited by Fashion Editor, Iona Monahan, who had seen her work as a model, to write a fashion column for the Montreal Gazette. Two of her articles were picked up by the National Press, an honour that every journalist aspire too. In addition to columns, Viviane also began to work on the photo shoots. The more she navigated in uncharted waters, the more she began to create a reserve of talent drawn from her diverse artistic experiences.

The rock however from which emanated all her exploration was the love of her family. At the age of 29, she married Francis Fox, Member of Parliament, and Minister responsible for the establishment of the Museums of Fine Arts and of Civilization. (It is worth pointing out that Viviane chose for her first exhibit an art gallery in Florida because she wanted to be invited on the strength of her artistic merits rather than on the basis of her husband’s connections.) Her daughter Julianna was born four years after her marriage and her son Daniel, a few years later. She divided up her time between family life (baseball games, tennis matches and lunches at home with the children) and painting.

When her daughter started high school, Viviane enrolled in an art class at the Saidye Bronfman Centre. It was there that she began to explore and develop technique. According to Viviane, the Saidye Bronfman Centre gave special focus to the artist and to artistic expression. Her art professors, Marilyn Rubenstein and Philip Iverson, recognized her talent and supported her professional development.

Her art is resplendent with a luminosity that comes from her meticulous and relentless work. Her strokes are spontaneous and generous. Traces of the paint knife and spatula as well as her instinctive blend of colours are the signature of her art. The subjects of her work, the “noise of living things” are drawn from the life that surrounds her. She dreams of a canvas that will take shape by the mere stroke of a brush in the style of Picasso. Viviane finds her inspiration in artists, – the colour and texture of Mitchell and The Kooning, The Berkeley Series by Diebenkorn ―, in her professors, Rubenstein and Iverson, in her exhibits with the Nun’s Island Art Group and in her continuing participation in the exhibit, Les femmeuses.

However, we must also remember the deep influence of her private realm: the circle formed by her children, her husband, her mother and her sister. In her day to day life, Viviane seeks to be at the helm and to ensure the well-being of all the members of her family. The leitmotif of her work is life lived with overwhelming passion. The canvas can be filled with stormy days or with the brilliance of the sunshine or the calm of the sea. In contrast to the disciplined control she exercises in her own life, her art is like a ship sailing forward on the billows of the deep, moving forward in the wake of the unforeseen events or emotions that she models to form the subject of her work.

Thanks to her ability to listen and to her sensitivity, Vivian or Viviane – the name she has chosen from her identification with Montreal and Quebec – Case-Fox creates her art from a disparity of subjects, transposed onto the canvas. In her studio on the Lachine Canal, she creates a bridge between the interior world and the outside, between laughter and

anxiety…

By Diane Brabant