Real Cloutier. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Beauce area. Quebec. Active late 20th C.

Real Cloutier. The name is occasionally found on very bright coloured, glossy painted birds. They are signed on the base. His birds are naive and attractive; the claws in the illustrated Rooster are made of metal nails.

Painted Rooster. Real Cloutier signed and dated 2002:

Real Cloutier. Signed Carved Rooster. Beauce. Quebec.

Real Cloutier mark:

Real Cloutier. Carved Rooster. Beauce ,Quebec, His mark.

Maurice Cotnoir. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Eastern Townships, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.

Maurice Cotnoir was a wood carver. He carved birds and animals in the Modernist style using Walnut wood. His carvings were generally smaller and were sometimes colored or stained or left natural with a satin oil finish. He usually signed on the base: “Maurice Cotnoir, PQ”. I have no information about his background or exact location but I believe that he lived and worked in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Shown below is an example of his work with the mark.

Carved Yellow Bird on a Walnut base. By Maurice Cotnoir:

Maurice Cotnoir. Quebec. Yellow Bird Carving on a Walnut base.

The mark of Maurice Cotnoir:

Maurice Cotnoir. Quebec. Yellow Bird. The Mark.

Gracia Arbour. Woodcarver. Sculptor. Pointe-du-Lac, Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.

Gracia Arbour was the sister of Leo Arbour, the noted Quebec sculptor and woodcarver (see the separate article on Leo Arbour).

Her work is rarely found and was usually signed, she occasionally made relief carvings. An example is shown here.

Relief Carving by Gracia Arbour:

Gracia Arbour. Relief carving of a Quebec woman in a shawl. 1950s.

The mark of Gracia Arbour:

Gracia Arbour. Pointe-du-Lac Quebec. Her mark.

M. Fortin. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. Active 1930’s-1940’s.

M. Fortin was a Quebec woodcarver in the flat-pane tradition. Painted figural carvings of Quebec people have been found signed on the base: ‘M. Fortin, Hand carved. His work was primitive and they date from about 1940. Little else is known of this particular  artist but there  were several Fortin woodcarvers in Quebec making carvings of people in the flat-plane tradition. M. Fortin seems to be the earlier artist and the only one who painted the carvings. The Fortin artists often signed only with their initial. (R., M., L., were a few.)  An example by M. Fortin is shown here. (There will be a separate article on Laurent Fortin.)

Painted flat-plane carving of a man. Signed M. Fortin:

M. Fortin. Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. Woodcarving.

M. Fortin mark:

M Fortin His mark

Jean Lelievre. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Quebec. QC. Active 1930’s – 1940’s.

Jean Lelievre was a flat-plane wood carver who was active in Quebec in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. He usually signed his work by hand in script – sometimes cursive and sometimes  printed – on the bottom of the base. He always painted his carvings. Lelievre’s subjects were always singles or couples in traditional Quebec costume. Larger works are rarely seen; most were between 4 ½ to 6 ½  inches high.*

Some examples of the work of  Jean Lelievre and his marks.

A Fisherman by Jean Lelievre:

Jean Lelievre. Fisherman.

The Mark:

Jean Lelievre. The printed mark.

Five carvings by Jean Lelievre:

Jean Lelievre. Five Carvings.

Other marks of Jean Lelievre:

Jean Lelievre. Different Marks.

Another carving by Jean Lelievre. 1930’s (Pine wood):

Jean Lelievre. Quebec. Carving of a man. 1930’s.

Jean Lelievre’s mark in cursive script:

Jean Lelievre mark in script.

A rare large carving (10″ h.) by Jean Lelievre:

Rare 10 inch carving by Jean Lelievre

The mark:

Rare 10 inch carving by Jean Lelievre The Mark

*Jean Lelievre was one of several Quebec flat-plane woodcarvers whose carving careers seemed to have stopped sometime in the 1940’s or in a few cases the very early 1950’s. (The second world war may have been a factor for some.)