Pierre-Olivier Ouellet

Pierre-Olivier Ouellet is an art historian and professor at Cégep du Vieux Montréal. He holds a PhD from Rennes 2 University in France, where he studied the art collections of laypeople under the French regime. He is interested in various aspects of artistic production in Canada before 1900, such as the representation of Indigenous peoples, artistic works related to missionary activities, the history of materials and techniques, art after the Conquest, and art historiography. The author of several scholarly essays, he has published in Quebec and Europe, notably in exhibition catalogues and books, including François-Marc Gagnon et l’art au Québec: Hommage et parcours (Montreal: Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2021), L’homme des bois, l’homme vert: L’imaginaire de l’homme sylvestre dans la littérature et les arts (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2019), Trading Paintings and Painters' Materials 1550–1800 (London: Archetype Publications, 2019), Le fabuleux destin des tableaux des abbés Desjardins: Peintures des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles des musées et églises du Québec (Ghent: Snoeck, 2017), and Québec: Une ville et ses artistes (Quebec: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, 2008). Ouellet’s articles have also appeared in several academic journals, including Legatio: The Journal for Renaissance and Early Modern Diplomatic Studies (vol. 4, 2020), IKON: Journal of Iconographic Studies (vol. 12, 2019), Bulletin d’histoire politique (vol. 26, no. 1, 2017), and the Revue de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (no. 3, 2011). Very active in teaching and research, he is currently exploring the work of artist and architect François Baillairgé (1759–1830), studying the iconic painting La France apportant la foi aux Wendat de la Nouvelle-France (c.1666), and investigating the writings of art historian Gérard Morisset (1898-1970), all while continuing to explore lesser-known or less-appreciated works of art in Quebec and Canadian history.