Raymond Leroux. Sculptor. Woodcarver. St.-Therese, Quebec. Active late 20th century.

Raymond Leroux  carved sets of articulated men playing checkers. They were seated on stools and the checker board sat on a wooden barrel. They were well painted and his figures were usually wearing hats. He also made tall and elongated carvings of well-dressed men in hats. These were colored and varnished. Raymond Leroux carved in Pine wood and used water colors.  In his later years he signed his work although the mark is sometimes hard to distinguish. These figures always remind me of the figures in a Jean-Paul Lemieux painting.

He was the third generation of carvers of checker players and all three generations have been collected by the Canadian Museum of History. (CMC)

Raymond Leroux. St. Therese, Quebec. A carved and painted set of Checker Players:

Raymond Leroux. St.-Therese, Quebec. Carved Checker Players.

Pictured are a pair of figures by Raymond Leroux:

Raymond Leroux. St.-Therese, Quebec. Two carved people.

L. Perron. Painter. St.-Adelphe, Champlain Co., Quebec. Active 1950’s-1970.

Perron was a naive painter who painted in oils on canvas. His or her subjects were the landscape and people in and around St. Adelphe, Quebec; northeast of Trois Rivieres, Quebec. The paintings are full of charm and color and portray the activities and landmarks of the area. They were always signed in the lower right and occasionally on the reverse. Some examples are shown below.

L. Perron. The covered bridge across the Batiscan River:

L.Perron. Covered Bridge. Near St. Adelphe. Quebec.

L. Perron. Haying in the fields. Oil on canvas:

L. Perron. Haying. Oil on Canvas.

Detail Of the Mark. Lower right:

L. Perron. His or her Mark.

Michel Paradis. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Quebec City area, Quebec.  Active 3rd quarter 20th c.

Michel Paradis is known for his carvings of birds. His carvings are quite striking and always well mounted. Shown below is a gaggle of twelve Canada Geese mounted on a Pine wood panel and signed on the side of the base. He usually signed his work on the base.

Michel Paradis. Carving of eleven Canada Geese. C. 1970:

Michel Paradis. Sculptor, woodcarver.Quebec.

His Mark:

Michel Paradis. Wood carving. A Gaggle of Geese. C. 1970. Detail.

R. Bourbonnais. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Quebec City. (?) Active 1950’s.

The exact location of this artist is uncertain but his work is often found in the Quebec City region. A maker of carvings with native American themes. The example shown is a carved head of a Native American warrior. It is mounted on a plywood panel and signed on the reverse. Written on the reverse in French is “Tribu Hidasta….who has already slain an enemy” The Hidatsa are a Sioux tribe from the North Dakota region. It is signed R. Bourbonnais.

A sample of his work:

R. Bourbonnais. Quebec. Carved head of a Native American Warrior. 1950’s.

His mark on the reverse:

R. Bourbonnais. Detail of his Mark.

Rene Jutras. Sculptor. Woodcarver. Quebec. Active 1940’s-1950’s.

Rene Jutras is known for his painted relief carvings of Quebec scenes and landscapes. His work was naive and finely detailed and painted with ‘as found’ colors and paint (semi-gloss). He carved in Pine wood. There are no details yet about his locality but his work is often found in the Montreal area and north in the laurentian Mountains.

A signed relief carving of a Sugar bush and gathering the sap by Rene Jutras (c. 1940):

Rene Jutras. Quebec. Relief carving of a Sugar Bush Scene. 1940’s.

Rene Jutras – his Mark:

Rene Jutras. Quebec. His Mark.

Another Relief carving by Rene Jutras:

Rene Jutras. Relief carving.