Claude Lamontagne. Sculptor. Bird Carver. St. Gilles, Quebec. Active after late 1970’s -.

Born in Charny, Quebec in 1939; Claude Lamontagne is a carver of Birds; especially those found in Quebec. He is considered by many to be one of the best living bird carvers in Quebec. Claude Lamontagne has been carving  for about 30 years. He seems to capture something quite magical in small pieces of Pine. He works with old – even antique – salvaged Pine and uses ‘as found’ colors to create his carvings. His bird mounts are sometimes works of art themselves- he once found an old ball of wire when walking an old fence line near where he lived. He brought it home and mounted several Nuthatches on this old rusty ball of left-over fence wire and created something quite spectacular.

M. Lamontagne sometimes makes small animal carvings; he will make a Porcupine occasionally and carvings of Horses.

 

His work:

A pair of Starlings:

 

 

 

 

Claude Lamontagne at play some years back:

 

 

Olivier Lefebvre. Sculptor. Laprairie, Quebec. Active early to mid 20th century.

Olivier Lefebvre was first collected by Nettie Sharpe. He was a carver of small animals and wooden objects such as boxes or containers decorated with carved animals and birds. He showed a fondness for cats in his carvings.

 A Link to the Canadian Museum of History Website:

http://collections.civilisations.ca/public/objects/common/webmedia.php?irn=3012774

Blanche Bolduc. Painter. Sculptor. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid to late 20th Century.

Like her sister Yvonne; Blanche Bolduc learned wood carving from her father in his wood working shop when she was a child. They both sold their early work to travelers on the highway that ran by their house. Blanche  started painting more seriously in her late 50’s in Baie-Saint-Paul. A primitive artist (she herself rejected the label naive in her later years),  Blanche Bolduc was skillful and discerning in the subject matter and composition of her paintings.  Her canvas and her pallet was rural Quebec in the first half of the 20th century, and its history. She continued to paint into the 1990’s. She usually signed her work “Blanche Bolduc” or simply: “B. B.”

Shown directly below are two earlier works by Blanche Bolduc. One is dated ’67 and signed ‘B B’ and Blanche Bolduc’. It was done when she was in her late fifties, or earlier, and it is a much different style than the one that she evolved in the 1970’s and 1080’s. It is a strong and energetic painting. The other was done in 1956. It is a street scene in Quebec’s lower town. It is a delightful painting. The third work, ‘Washing Day’ (late 1970’s), is from her later period. These paintings show the true range of this very talented artist.

(My apologies for the quality of the images.)

Blanche Bolduc. A Farmstead in Charlevoix County, Quebec. Oil on Paper. 1967.:

 

 

 

 Blanche Bolduc. “Rue Champlain”, Cap Diamond, Quebec City. Oil on artist board. 1956:

 

 

Blanche Bolduc. Washing Day. Acrylic on Masonite. 1970’s:

 

 

A rare ‘bas relief’ by Blanche Bolduc :

The Mark:

 

 

An excellent article ‘en Francais’; Yvonne et Blanche Bolduc; Peintres de l’art traditionelle. (Google Translate does a ‘so so’ job, but it is worth reading.):

http://www.baiesaintpaul.com/bibliotheque/aines/Soeurs_Bolduc.htm

A short biography of Blanche Bolduc:

http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=73

Ref: Blanche Bolduc and the Charlevoix folk painters’ movement / Blanche Bolduc et le mouvement des peintres populaires de Charlevoix. Gauthier, Serge. Montreal: Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, 2011.

Ref:  Peindre un Pays: Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires.  Richard Dube and Francois Tremblay, (Ottawa. Editions Broquet, 1989)

Rejean Potvin. Sculptor. Breakeyville, (Levis) Quebec. Active 1970’s-1990.

A maker of carved and painted birds mounted on carved bases.

 

Ref: M.Q.C.P. a T.-R. ( Musee Quebecois de Culture Populaire at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.)

 

Bernardin Perreault. Sculptor. Wood carver.  Frampton, Beauce, Quebec. Active mid-20th Century.

Bernardin Perreault was a sculptor of birds, animals, people and fine naive works of whimsy, sometimes involving people. He carved in Pine (occasionally with ‘as found’ materials) and always colored with glossy ‘as found’ oil paints. He usually signed his work on the base and the carvings of people in situations will often have a title on the front. Bernardin Perreault’s works are sought after by collectors, especially in Quebec, where most of them are found. (In Museum and private collections.)  In spite  of having a large body of work, his carvings are rare.

An example of his mark:

(Seen on the ‘Collectivator’ website: a fine and humorous carving of a religious, caught in one of life’s situations. Signed: Bernardin Perreault, Frampton.)

 

Ref: Adrien Levasseur. website.