Of Indigenous Abenaki and Québécois descent, Rita Letendre was a Canadian abstractionist known for her large-scale ‘arrow’ paintings. First exhibiting within the male-dominated art movement of Les Automatistes in Montreal, Letendre sought to break away from the group, seeking her own visual identity. Upon travelling to Long Beach, California for a large-scale mural commission, the traditional methods of machismo-impasto surfaces were deemed impractical. Influenced by the California Light & Space movement, Rita employed airbrush acrylics to build luminous, iridescent fields of colour. Making titular notes to the passing of light through space, critic’s suggest that such references may be nod to her Indigenous heritage. Being of Abenaki descent, from the Wabanaki confederacy, often referred to as People of the Dawnland. Today, Letendre’s work is widely collected by Canadian institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, but recent international support, such as the solo presentation at the Rubell Museum which opened in December 2025 are pivotal in her introduction to broader audiences.

Works

Inquietude Inquietude Inquietude Inquietude Inquietude Inquietude
Inquietude
1970
Sau-a-Gan
Sau-a-Gan
1978

Fairs

The Armory Show
Javits Center 655 W 34th Street
September 24 - September 27, 2026
Booth 202
The Armory Show
Art Toronto
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
October 29 - November 1, 2026
Booth 100
Art Toronto

Public Collections

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton
Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa
Concordia University Art Gallery, Montreal
Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax
Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Long Beach
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach
McGill University Visual Arts Collection, Montreal
McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal
Musée d’art de Baie-Saint-Paul, Baie-Saint-Paul
Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette
Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent, Rivière-du-Loup
Musée Laurier, Victoriaville
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City
Museum London, London
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa
Owens Art Gallery, Sackville
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs
Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego
Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, Sherbrooke
Speed Art Museum, Louisville
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg