Edith-Marie Bouchard. Painter. Sculptor. Moulin Cesar. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid 20th Century.
Edith Bouchard was the younger sister of artists Simone-Marie and Marie-Cecile Bouchard of Charlevoix County. Born in 1924, she didn’t begin to paint until the two older artists had stopped working. Simone-Marie had died and Marie-Cecile entered a convent. Her mother encouraged her to paint and, using Marie-Cecile’s colors and brushes, she painted. She had always sculpted. Smaller pieces for the Family shop, among many other things, and: jewelry – little carved and painted Fish as brooches and earrings and a specialty of hers: carved and painted Maple Leaves with painted Charlevoix scenes on them. Her favorite subjects as a painter were naive pictures of house interiors that showed the traditions and customs of Charlevoix women. An art critic of the time commenting on Edith said: “Les soeurs Bouchard chantent leur Pays”. (The Bouchard sisters ‘sing’ their country.)
A mounted and framed example of a carved and Painted Maple Leaf by Edith Bouchard. 1930’s:
Edith Bouchard. Painter. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. 1930’s.
A self portrait by Edith Bouchard:
Edith Bouchard. Oil on board.
The label on the reverse of the self-portrait:
Edith Bouchard. Label.
A Link to her Biography. Canadian Women Artist History Initiative website:
http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=133
Edith and the Bouchard Sister’s Story. From ‘Le Patrimoine Immateriel Religeux website:
http://www.ipir.ulaval.ca/fiche.php?id=612
Ref:Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires
Dubé, Richard et François Tremblay, Peindre un pays: Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires, Laprairie: Éditions Broquet, 1989, 160 p. (Collection; Signature Plus), ISBN: 2-89000-105-9
Ref: National Gallery of Canada. Artists in Canada. Union List of Artist’s Files.Ottawa. 1982.
