Laurent Fortin. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. Active 1960’s – .

Laurent Fortin was a flat-plane carver in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. He made carvings of traditional Quebec figures and scenes. His work was very finely done and his carvings are very expressive. He worked in Basswood (Tilleul) and occasionally Butternut (Noyer Tendre) and he usually signed his work. (Ed. note: I believe that Robert and Laurent Fortin were siblings.)

A carving of a Woman at a Spinning Wheel by Laurent Fortin:

Laurent Fortin. Flat-Plane carving of Woman Spinning. 1960’s.

Laurent Fortin. Carving of Checker Players in Butternut wood:

Laurent Fortin. Signed Checker Players in Butternut wood. c.1970.

D. B. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Laurentians area of Quebec. Active mid 20th century.

D. B. are the initials on a naive model of a mid-20th century Quebec house. It is signed on the bottom of the base in French: ‘Fait Par D. B. 1949’. The front of the house slides off showing the furnished interior – complete with light fixtures, kitchen cupboards and a mirror over the fireplace. The House has a tin roof and glass in the side windows. The round windows on the front appear to be celluloid. To make it interesting for a child perhaps; the artist incorporated into the base of the model a coin bank with a slot and a tiny padlock on a hinged door. While the mark on the base gives the date ‘1949’, the model itself appears to date from about 1930. There is a plastic Dog outside the house and a Cat in the Kitchen; they appear to be original. The model measures about 10 inches by 8 inches by 9 inches high.

A very fine example of a popular and universal concept. Many house miniatures were made with the idea of a gift to a child and many were made for fun and became something else. Most of them were ‘tour de force’ works such as this one is.

Quebec naive model of a mid-20th century house. Signed D. G.:

Miniature model of a Quebec House. G. B. 1949.

Detail A:

Quebec Miniature House.

Detail B:

Quebec Miniature House.

Detail C:

Quebec Miniature House.

Detail D:

Quebec Miniature House.

The mark of D. B.:

Quebec Miniature House. The mark.

Alfred Osborne Sears. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Montreal, Quebec. Active mid 20th century.

Alfred Osborne (A. O.) Sears was a flat-plane carver. He made carvings of Quebec characters in traditional costume as well as painted relief carvings of Laurentian cottage scenes. His wife Pearl was known to have painted his carvings. He usually signed his work “Hand Carved. A. O. Sears. Montreal”; in script with a pencil abut  with no date. His carvings are rare among the flat-plane carvers of Quebec and not often seen. They were well done and finely coloured.

A carved and painted man and woman by A. O. Sears:

A. O. Sears. Montreal. Carved pair.

The mark of A. O. Sears:

The mark of A. O. Sears.

Cadieux. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Montreal, Quebec. Active mid 20th century.

Cadieux (the first name is unknown) made primitive carvings of birds. He always painted them and sometimes signed with an ink stamp that said simply: ‘Cadieux – Sculpteur –  Montreal’. I know little else about this artist for certain except that he was active 1950’s – 1960’s. I have found his birds over the years at various markets in the Montreal area – a few signed with the stamp – most not. All in paint with some mounted on a base and some not mounted – merely having a single hole where a base may have been attached. One of the examples shown has two legs and another slightly different carving has a single metal leg. They all appear to date from the middle of the 20th century. Above all they are very fine examples of primitive bird sculpture.*

Some examples of the work of Cadieux. Two painted Birds:

A pair of birds by Cadieux, Montreal.

A single bird by Cadieux:**

Bird Carving by Cadieux.

The Mark:**

Cadieux Mark

*For a while I thought that they were the work of Emile Bluteau. He brought a few to me when he was picking  in the 1970’s. He strongly denied making them and told me they were the work of a carver who made bird houses and decorated them with these bird carvings.  Pickers would remove the birds to sell and dump the ‘Bird” houses because they were too big and were only called bird houses because they were full of these carved birds. If this story is true then those ‘Bird’ houses must have been quite a sight. I have learned over the years to be wary of yarns by pickers but I must say that Emile Bluteau usually let you know when he was pulling your leg.

** From: https://shadflyguy.com/tag/folk-art-animals/page/2/