Blanche Bolduc. Painter. Sculptor. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid to late 20th Century.
Like her sister Yvonne; Blanche Bolduc learned wood carving from her father in his wood working shop when she was a child. They both sold their early work to travelers on the highway that ran by their house. Blanche started painting more seriously in her late 50’s in Baie-Saint-Paul. A primitive artist (she herself rejected the label naive in her later years), Blanche Bolduc was skillful and discerning in the subject matter and composition of her paintings. Her canvas and her pallet was rural Quebec in the first half of the 20th century, and its history. She continued to paint into the 1990’s. She usually signed her work “Blanche Bolduc” or simply: “B. B.”
Shown directly below are two earlier works by Blanche Bolduc. One is dated ’67 and signed ‘B B’ and Blanche Bolduc’. It was done when she was in her late fifties, or earlier, and it is a much different style than the one that she evolved in the 1970’s and 1080’s. It is a strong and energetic painting. The other was done in 1956. It is a street scene in Quebec’s lower town. It is a delightful painting. The third work, ‘Washing Day’ (late 1970’s), is from her later period. These paintings show the true range of this very talented artist.
(My apologies for the quality of the images.)
Blanche Bolduc. A Farmstead in Charlevoix County, Quebec. Oil on Paper. 1967.:
Blanche Bolduc. Painter. Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec.1960’s. Oil on paper.
Blanche Bolduc. “Rue Champlain”, Cap Diamond, Quebec City. Oil on artist board. 1956:
Blanche Bolduc. Painter. Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. 1956.
Blanche Bolduc. Washing Day. Acrylic on Masonite. 1970’s:
Blanche Bolduc. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Washing Day.
A rare ‘bas relief’ by Blanche Bolduc :
Blanche Bolduc. Bas relief.
The Mark:
Blanche Bolduc. The reverse mark.
An excellent article ‘en Francais’; Yvonne et Blanche Bolduc; Peintres de l’art traditionelle. (Google Translate does a ‘so so’ job, but it is worth reading.):
http://www.baiesaintpaul.com/bibliotheque/aines/Soeurs_Bolduc.htm
A short biography of Blanche Bolduc:
http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=73
Ref: Blanche Bolduc and the Charlevoix folk painters’ movement / Blanche Bolduc et le mouvement des peintres populaires de Charlevoix. Gauthier, Serge. Montreal: Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, 2011.
Ref: Peindre un Pays: Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires. Richard Dube and Francois Tremblay, (Ottawa. Editions Broquet, 1989)
