Frédéric Back

Frédéric Back is an internationaly-recognized animated film producer. Born in 1924 in Saarbrücken, he has lived in Montréal, Canada since 1948. He started his career as a teacher and then worked on educational series for Radio-Canada Television in the 1950s and 60s. In 1967, he created the stained-glass window in the Place des arts Métro station in MontrÉal.

Mr. Back, who joined Radio-Canada's animated film section in 1968, has been producing award-winning films for the last quarter century. Some of his works include "Abracadabra" (1970); "Inon ou la conquête du feu" (1971); The Bratislava and Yorkton Festivals' award-winning; "La création des oiseaux" (1973); "Illusion" (1974), which earned five international awards; "Taratata la parade" (1977); the animated film sequences for "The Firebird" (1979), a show produced by Jean-Yves Landry and winner of the Prague d'Or in 1980 and a Emmy Award in New York; "Tout-rien" (1980) which received three awards and was nominated for an Oscar in 1981. In 1982, Frédéric Back won the Oscar for best animated film for the work "Crac" (1981), which also enjoyed some 20 other awards. Furthermore, the film was selected from a group of 50 as the sixth-best animated film of the century at the Olympiad of Animation held in Los Angeles during the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. In 1986, Frédéric Back received the ASIFA Award (Hollywood) for outstanding achievement.

"The Man who Planted Trees" (L'Homme qui plantait des arbres) won some forty awards as well as the Oscar for best animated film given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Los Angeles, U.S.A., April 11, 1988.

"The Mighty River" (Le Fleuve aux grandes eaux), Frédéric Back's latest work has received some twenty awards. It was the grand prize winner at the International Animated Film Festival held in Annecy, France in June 1993. It was also nominated for an Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 1993.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

• Honorary Member, Société des décorateurs-ensembliers du Québec.
  
  
• Member, Association internationale du film d'animation (ASIFA).
  
  
• Member, Cinémathèque québécoise.
  
  
• Member, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
  
  
• Member, Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
  
  
• Member, Royal Academy of the Arts of Canada.
  
  
• Honorary Member, Association des illustrateurs du Québec.
  
  
• Interior design, La Saulaie Restaurant at Boucherville, Quebec, in association with interior designer Claude Hinton.
  
  
• Interior design, Hélène de Champlain Restaurant in Montreal, in association with interior designer Claude Hinton for Expo '67; creator of the Restaurant's mural.
  
  
• Creator of the mural at the VendÙme Cinema in Place Victoria, Montreal.
  
  
• Restoration and ornamentation of churches at Pierreville and Aylmer, Quebec.
  
  
• Restoration and ornamentation of churches at Clarenceville and Ste-Agathe, Quebec, at Darmouth, Nova Scotia, as well as at Chateauguay and Brushton, New York State.
  
  
• Interior design of the Montreal restaurants Pescatore, La Tour Eiffel and Roma Antiqua, in association with interior designer Claude Hinton.
  
  
• Illustration for CRAC, an artbook with text by Ghylaine Paquin-Back.
  
  
• Officer of the Order of Canada.
  
  
• Knight of the Order of Quebec.
  
  
• Officier de l'ordre des Arts et Lettres de la France
  
  
• Governor-General's Performing Arts Awards, 1994, Canada

STUDIES

• 1938-1939
  Ecole Estienne, Paris.
  
  
• 1939-1945
  Rennes School of Fine Arts (Award-winning studies).
  
  
• 1940-1948
  Studies with noted marine illustrator and painter Mr. Meheut. Book illustration and murals. Exhibitions of work in Rennes and Paris.

CAREER

1948-1952
Arrived in Canada in 1948. Lives in Montréal since then. Professor at l'Ecole du meuble, later integrated into the CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is now the Department of Plastic Arts of the Université du Québec à Montréal.

1952-1953
Worked for French CBC Network in MontrÉal, in the graphic arts department.

1953-1955
"On camera" drawings for "Le nez de Cléopâtre", produced by Jean Boisvert telecast on the French CBC Network in Montréal.

1953-1961
Illustrations, animated films, on camera graphics, and visual effects for educational, musical and scientific television programs. Film decors for series "Le roman de la science", telecast on the French CBC Network in Montréal.

1955-1956
Animation films of the series "La joie de connaître", telecast on the French CBC Network in Montréal.

1959-1963
Research into, and production of processes of painting on glass. Way Of the Cross and windows in church of Mattawa, Ontario; windows in Holiday Inn, Sainte-Foy, Québec and Montréal.

1961-1963
Illustrator for television educational programs. Award Entertainment Congress and Art Director's Club.

100 drawings for "Samuel de Champlain". Director: Denys Arcand, a National Film Board production.

1963-1964
Canadian Arts Council grant for period of study in Europe in film and animation.
1965-1968 Animation films for the series "Quebec School Telecast", produced by Leonard Weinstein and telecast on the CBC Network.

1967
Stained-glass window in Place-des-arts subway station, Montréal. Production of 9 scale-models for historical series "D'Iberville", produced by Pierre Gauvreau and Rolland Guay, telecast on the French CBC Network. On Display in Montréal's military and maritime museum.

1968
Joined Radio-Canada's animated film section under the direction of Mr. Hubert Tison.

Decors and costumes for the series "Les Oraliens", telecast on Radio-Québec Network.

1972
Illustrator of television series "Les forges de Saint-Maurice", produced by Louis Bédard and Richard Martin, telecast on the French CBC Network in Montreal.

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Distribution Information - Credits

Frédéric Back Gallery- Overview

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