The Architect of Quebec Modernity To understand the trajectory of Canadian abstraction, one must look directly at Fernand Leduc. He did not merely participate in movements; he helped engineer the very framework of Quebec's visual identity. His career was a deliberate series of shifts, moving from the spontaneous energy of Les Automatistes to the disciplined precision of hard-edge painting. This was not a lack of direction, but a rigorous pursuit of what color and shape could achieve when stripped of traditional figurative baggage. When he signed the Refus Global manifesto in 1948, he was mak…