Russell Lynds. Sculptor. Wood carver. Fox Harbour, Nova Scotia. Active mid-20th century.
Russel Lynds. His mark is seen on a well carved and painted diorama of a mother goose with goslings on the nest. (C. 1960)
Clarence Webster
Born: 1900 ?
Clarence Webster. Painter. Toronto, Ontario. Active mid-20th century. A naive painter.
He painted the people in the world around him as part of a story. He used ‘as found’ colors and mediums even walls. Widely collected in museums and privately.
Lawrence Davis
Born: 1909 | Died: 1982
Lawrence Davis. Sculptor. Wood carver. Decoy carver. Seagrave, Ontario. Active mid-20th century.
Lawrence Davis was a decoy carver. He made decoys for sale in sporting goods stores. He also made ornamental carvings of birds and animals later in life.
Ref: Bernie Gates. Ontario Decoys. The UpperCanadian. 1982. 1986.
Ref: Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985).
Ref: Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion to Canadian Folk Art (1999).
Gaston Bergeron
Born: 1922 | Died: 2008
Gaston Bergeron. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Laval, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.
Mr. Bergeron’s greatest work is his fabulous Miniature Circus. Over a period of some 35 years he sculpted circus wagon after wagon, each one numbered and with their animals or entertainers inside. No one knows for certain how many he made. (Each wagon is numbered and I have seen numbers into the 70’s.) He made every aspect of a Circus Parade as well. There are groups of marching elements such as Corsairs, Romans, Cowboys and Cowgirls, Costumed Indians, Clowns, Acrobats (the list goes on) and he made spectators; from the awestruck children to the curious and wistful adults.
The wagons are carved and adorned with moldings and carved figures dancing and playing instruments and calling the passer-by to visit the circus. Everything brightly colored. All are carved to scale and with every detail down to the under carriage, wheels and harnesses of each wagon and horse.
An interesting aspect of his circus carvings is that when we, the spectator, look at it on it’s level (rather than down at it), we see that it is carved from the view point and perspective of a child. Mr. Bergeron must have seen a Circus parade when he was a child and that sense of wonder never left him. Fortunately for us he put it all into his Circus parade. And he took it on the road in a travelling exhibition around Canada and the United States; sometimes using an old school bus and charging a small amount to people who wished to see it. Much like Archelas Poulin with his automatons and Moise Potvin with his automatons and his large set ‘The Story without Words’. A large part of the circus is in the collection of The Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec.
A carving of a Circus Truck by Gaston Bergeron:
Gaston Bergeron. A Circus Truck on Parade.
I am posting some links to the Museum of Civilization site and parts of the Bergeron Circus:
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/treasure/282eng.shtml
http://collections.civilisations.ca/public/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=3095703
Archelas Poulin
Born: 1892 | Died: 1969
Archelas Poulin. Sculptor. Painter.Lac Megantic, Quebec. Active early to mid-20th century.
After a work accident in 1917, Poulin began to work with a carving knife. His talent was natural and enormous. He created two dozen dioramas depicting the life of Jesus and took them on the road to fairs around North America. He lost them to theft in 1926 and proceeded to make another even more compelling set of dioramas showing each month in the life of rural Quebec 100 years ago and these were automatons; they moved and danced. And he returned to life as an itinerant artist. These automaton/dioramas were intricate, complex and wonderfully colorful. The Museum of Civilization has a fair collection of his works.
The Ballroom Carving-Diorama/automaton is quite transcendent. I am including a link to the Can. Mus. Of History’s article on Archeas Poulin here:
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/treasure/122eng.shtml
