Fernand Toupin was born in Montreal in 1930 and died there in 2009. From 1949 to 1953, he studied at École des beaux-arts de Montréal while attending Stanley M. Cosgrove's workshop where he experimented with various techniques such as silkscreening, engraving and photolithography. In 1955, he co-signed the ?'manifeste des Plasticiens'? with Jean-Paul Jérôme, Louis Belzile and Jauran (Rodolphe de Repentigny), its author. This group, in contrast to the Automatists' spontaneity, advocated a kind of Mondrian geometric abstraction style. Fernand Toupin greatly contributed to this ideology by painting irregular shaped canvasses or object-paintings, as art critics called them. At the beginning of the 60's, the artist explored a more organic avenue incorporating natural elements in his pigments such as bark pieces, marble dust, etc. ''I like to feel the bubbling of things being created. The wave motion. The coolness of snow. The omnipresence of minerals. '' He went back to geometric abstraction in 1993. In addition to his painting, Fernand Toupin was director of the Association des artistes non figuratifs de Montréal (1963-1974). In 1970, a gallery in Paris offered him a solo exhibition where all his canvasses were sold. Encouraged by this success, he quit his job to fully dedicate himself to his art. In 1977, he was appointed (or elected') member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and that same year, he created the mural ''Hochelaga'' for the Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall at Place des arts in Montreal. Throughout his career, Fernand Toupin participated in numerous exhibitions such as the World's Fair in Osaka, the IVe Festival international de peinture in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France (where he won the International Prize for Canada), ''Jauran et les premiers Plasticiens'? at Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Art Expo New York and the Tokyo Central Museum. His artworks can be found in the following collections: Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the National Gallery of Canada.