Lucien Bolduc. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Compton, Estrie, Quebec. Active mid to late 20th century.

Lucien Bolduc lived most of his life in Magog. As a child he started making woodcarvings in his spare time. He went on to make carvings of horse-drawn wagons and farm implements eventually participating in  local and provincial wood carving exhibitions and appeared in  newspapers and on television. He started carving for sale around 1953 and sold at local exhibitions. Until 1968 he carved only animals, horse-drawn wagons and sleds. After the late 1960’s his work included wayside crosses. From 1976 on he did toys, small objects, lamps etc.        M. Z.

Lucien Bolduc. Carving of a White Horse:

Louis Bolduc. Carving of a White Horse.

The Mark of Lucien Bolduc:

Louis Bolduc. His mark.

Lucien Bolduc. Carving of a Horse-drawn Beer Sled. 1960’s:

Lucien Bolduc. Magog, Quebec. Beer Sled. 1960s.

Ref: Pour passer le temps: artistes populaires du Québec. SIMARD Jean, Bernard Genest, Francine Labonté et René Bouchard. Québec, ministère des Affaires culturelles – collection Les publications du Québec, les Cahiers du patrimoine 17, 1985.

Ref: Mark Zannis.

Andre De Bois. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Quebec Province. Area unknown. Active early to mid 20th century.

Shown below is a painted carving of a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. It is carved in a ‘Hard’ Pine wood and dates from the 1930’s. The carving is signed on the base in ink: “Mounty. Hand Carved By Andre De Bois”  It certainly appears to be ‘De Bois’ with a capital ‘B’), Quebec”. The carving is highly detailed and done in the formal manner of Paul Archebald Caron rather than the flat plane  caricature style of a Trygg or Hannah or even a Bourgault. And Andre De Bois also carved in the flat plane manner.

The second carving below is a carving of a hobo or tramp and the third  a carving of a Monk . The Hobo is signed on the base: “Hobo, Hand carved by Andre De bois, Quebec”  On this carving the ‘b’ in De bois is not capitalized. It is dated ‘1938’ in pencil. The Monk is signed: “Monk” Hand carved by Andre De Bois and is undated. (In my opinion all three carvings are pre-WW2.)

The signature ‘DeBois or Debois’ may or may not be a pseudonym. There is not a lot of information on this artist and it would be interesting to clarify this artist’s biography. His mark is seen on various carvings all flat-plane work. But some are very naive and occasionally a very sophisticated carving is seen with the ‘De Bois’ mark. It makes me wonder if perhaps a formally trained sculptor is experimenting in this field and the mark : ‘De Bois’ (which means literally ‘Of Wood’) is perhaps a play on words and a cover for a formally trained artist who is carving simple Tramps and Monks.

Some images of an RCMP Officer signed Andre De Bois:

Andre De Bois Quebec. Carving of a Mounty. 1930’s.

The Andre De Bois mark:

De Bois Mark on the Mounty Wood carving.

Side image of The Mounty wood carving:

Andre De Bois Quebec. Mounty. Side view.

Andre De bois. Signed Carving of a “Hobo”:

Andre De bois. Hobo carving. signed.

The Mark Andre De bois on the base and the date in the upper right:

Andre De bois. The mark on the Hobo wood carving.

Andre De Bois. Signed carving of a Monk:

Andre De Bois Carving of a Monk

Andre De Bois. His mark on the carving of a Monk:

Andre De Bois. The mark on the Monk.

Georgette St-Pierre. Painter. Quebec. (region unknown) Active early 20th century.

Georgette St-Pierre was a primitive artist. Known for one signed landscape. A naive painting of a Quebec farmstead made with ‘as found’ materials and signed and dated 1910. With a provenance label on the reverse. (This appears to have been painted on wallpaper.)

Georgette St-Pierre. Some images:

Georgette St-Pierre. Quebec. 1910. Naive painting.

Her Mark:

Georgette St-Pierre. Quebec. Her Mark

The reverse with label:

Label on reverse of painting.