Fred Bailey, Sculptor. Painter. Wood carver. Shawville, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.

Fred Bailey was a farmer from Shawville, Quebec. He was known for his painted carvings of all kinds of Horse-drawn wagons and devices. Always dated and signed. Two are illustrated below.

A painted wood carving of a farmer plowing a field. (Signed Fred Bailey and dated 1977.):

Fred Bailey. Woodcarver. Shawville, Quebec. Carving of a farmer ploughing a field.

Side view:

Fred Bailey. Shawville, Que. Carving of a Farmer Plowing with a team. Signed and dated. 1977.

A carving of a Sulky and Rider:

Fred Bailey. Shawville, Quebec. Sulky and Rider.

Yves Gosselin. Painter. Quebec. Location unknown. Active 1950’s.

His mark has been seen on signed naive paintings done in the early 1950’s.

Adrien Arpin. Sculptor. Woodcarver. St.-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.

Adrien Arpin made a variety of painted wood carvings in the flat-plane tradition of the artists in St.-Jean-Port-Joli. Especially carvings of people but also carvings of kitchen items such as wall boxes for matches and salt and napkin rings etc.  His earlier work was always painted but into the 1950’s he began making unpainted figural carvings and kitchen ware. He signed  with a chisel or with a stamp in black ink. Recently added here are a pair of skiers; an extremely rare form in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli woodcarvings.

An example of one of Adrien Arpin’s  hanging wall boxes. (1940’s):

A Salt Box. Adrien Arpin. St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. C. 1950.

A carving of Checker Players. Signed A. Arpin on the base with a later over paint:

A. Arpin. Sainte-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Checker Players.

A detail of the Checker Players with the mark:

Adrien Arpin. Checker players. A detail of his mark.

A pair of painted Quebec figures in traditional costumes by Adrien Arpin. Late 1940’s:

Adrien Arpin. Two carved figures.

The stamped mark of A. Arpin on the base:

The mark of A. Arpin, St-Hyacinthe, QC.

Another pair by Adrien Arpin:

Skiers by Adrien Arpin ( An extremely rare form in these St-Jean-Port-Joli carvings):

Ernest Boucher. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Madeleine Centre, Gaspe, Quebec. Active mid 20th century.

Ernest Boucher was an early folk artist on the Gaspe shore. He made boat models and carvings of birds and animals. Usually  of Red Cedar wood; stained and varnished.

Madeleine Lizotte (‘Mado’) was his wife and partner and had much greater range in terms of subject matter and color palette. It is my understanding that coloured works by Ernest Boucher were carved by him but coloured by Mado. (See the separate article on her work.)

Ernest Boucher. Wood Carving, stained and varnished. The Beaver:

Beaver by Ernest Boucher

Ernest Boucher. Blue Jay. Carved by him and coloured by ‘Mado’ (Madeleine Lizotte) his wife:

Blue Jay by Ernest Boucher. Mado colored this.

Ernest Boucher. His mark:

Ernest Boucher his mark.

Madeleine Lizotte. Sculptor. Painter. Riviere Madeleine (Madeleine-Centre), Gaspe, Quebec. Active mid to late 20th century.

Maker of applied relief carvings and also bird carvings; She was known for her ‘tableaux’ of every aspect of village and country life as well as interpretations from Massicotte’s book(s) of traditional Quebec scenes. From ‘careless drivers’ and fishing scenes to ‘Le Mardi-Gras a la Campagne”; Mado assembled them using carvings that she made and the occasional ‘as found’ object. Everything painted and colored with every primary color.  It should be noted here that Madeleine often signed her work simply: “Mado”. It was only late in her career that she put her full name: ‘Madeleine Lizotte’ with the Village name and, rarely, the date.

(Her husband was Ernest Boucher (1913-1988), an early Gaspe shore folk artist.)

An example of her work. C. 1990. A pair of applied relief carvings signed ‘Mado’ on the reverse:

Madeleine Lizotte. Two applied relief carvings.

A carving of a Flicker by Madeleine Lizotte:

Mado. Madeleine Lizotte. Riviere-Madeleine, Quebec. Carving of a Flicker.

Detail of the Mark on the Flicker:

Mado. Madeleine Lizotte. Riviere-Madeleine, Quebec. Carving of a Flicker. Detail of the mark.

 Detail of the mark on the relief carvings:

Mado Lizotte. Detail 2.

An Image from the Net Of Mado and Ernest Boucher. *

Most, if not all, of the carvings in the photograph are Ernest Boucher’s work. He carved boats, and flowers and simple works of animals and birds. Mostly in varnished Cedar wood. The photograph was taken in their small gallery at Riviere-Madeleine in Gaspesie. (1970’s).

Madeleine Lizotte and Ernest Boucher

* Thanks to AntiquePromotion Inc. and their site for the use of this image.)