Yves Gaucher, a Canadian printmaker and abstractionist, was born in Montreal in 1934. He studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal from 1954 to 1956, returning there from 1957 to 1960 to specialize in printmaking under Albert Dumouchel. He received early recognition for his prints, in which he experimented with heavy embossing and lamination. Galerie l'échange in Montreal hosted his first solo exhibition in 1957, and by 1961 he was participating in exhibitions internationally. A Canada Council Grant in 1962 allowed him to travel to Europe, and while in Paris, Gaucher discovered the work of musician Anton Webern, which influenced him greatly and led to a series of prints titled En Hommage à Webern. Solo exhibitions were held at Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal, Gallery Moos, Toronto and the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York in 1963. Gaucher returned to painting in 1964, having been inspired by the works of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. He continued to exhibit both nationally and internationally in solo and group shows, while also teaching at Sir George Williams University in Montreal.
In 1969, 30 canvases formed an exhibition that originated at the Vancouver Art Gallery and traveled to the Edmonton Art Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery, London. In 1979, the exhibition Yves Gaucher: A Fifteen-Year Perspective opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario and traveled to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary.
Gaucher's works are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Gaucher died in 2000 in Montreal.