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Découvrir la vie à l’état pur, quelle joie, quel don du ciel.
Pendant un an et demi, il vivra ce qu’il appelle « une vie
paradisiaque ». Après trois ans en Afrique, retour en France pour
des congés ; à la veille d’y retourner, on l’informe que sa société
cesse ses activités dans ce pays.
Après
avoir connu les grands espaces, l’Europe est trop « étriquée » et
Brunoni décide d’émigrer au Canada. Il débarque le 8 août 1963. Il
s’installe à Trois-Rivière où il vit toujours.
En
1967, il épouse Suzette Normandin, jeune et belle Trifluvienne qui
lui donnera deux enfants, Hugues et Nicolas.
C’est
elle, à la Noël de 1969, qui lui offre un coffret de bois contenant
tubes et pinceaux. Il peint son tout premier tableau en 1970 et, en
1972, il se lance totalement dans la peinture. Chaque fois qu’il en
a besoin, il trouve sur son chemin le guides, les conseillers, les
initiateurs qui l’aident à faire une réussite de son nouveau métier.
Serge
Brunoni est un candidat sérieux à la reconnaissance, une valeur sûre
sur le marché de la peinture québécoise et canadienne, de l’avis de
tous les amateurs d’arts qui suivent sa carrière de près, depuis
trente ans.
Claude Savage
Serge
Brunoni was born Sept. 3, 1938 in Lygny-en-Barois, a small border
town in France. As a child, he clearly remembers going through
literally thousands of crayons; art was already part of his life.
War
and the Occupation marked his early childhood, a time of shortages
and many other hardships. Yet he retains no bad memories of that
period.
In
the difficult post-war years, he was obliged to leave school at age
of sixteen and work in a factory, like many of his contemporaries.
When
he was twenty, he enrolled in the French Colonial Forces, fulfilling
his dreams of travel and adventure.
His
dreams were answered in the army. He was posted to Frejus in the
south of France where he spent six month before embarking from
Marseilles en route to Africa – Brazzaville in what was then French
Equatorial Africa.
The
Lorraine region is reputed to produce fine soldiers. Even as the
army met his expectations, so did he meet theirs. He was reluctant
to leave, but his desire for the freedom to pursue further
adventures led him to be demobilized in Africa. He was soon hired
by The African Society for Topographical Studies and Works, then in
the process of building a railroad.
The
Society sent him thousands of kilometres into the jungle. There, in
the deepest Africa, he was ecstatic to discover the truth and beauty
of a country and people that seemed to have emerged straight from
the Garden of Eden.
What
a joy, what a gift from heaven to experience life in its purest
form. For one and half year he lived what he describes as a
“paradisiacal life”. After three years in Africa, he returned to
France for a holiday. On the eve of his return to the Congo, he was
informed that the Society would no longer be working in that
country.
After
living so long in the vast spaces of Africa, Europe seemed too
confining and Brunoni decided to immigrate to Canada. He landed on
Aug. 8, 1963 and settled in Trois-Riviere, which has remained his
home ever since.
In
1967, he married Suzette Normandin, a native of Trois-Rivieres and
together they have two children, Hughes and Nicolas.
For
Christmas 1969, Suzanne gave him a wooden box of paints and
brushes. He painted his first canvas in 1970 and, by 1972, had
devoted himself full-time to painting. Whenever necessary, he
always seemed to find the appropriate guide, mentor or innovator to
help him make a success of his new career.
In
the eyes of the many art lovers who have followed that career
closely for the past 30 years, Serge Brunoni is a sure candidate for
greater recognition, a valued figure in the world of Quebec and
Canadian art. |
