Edith-Marie Bouchard. Painter. Sculptor. Moulin Cesar. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid 20th Century.

Edith Bouchard was the younger sister of artists Simone-Marie and Marie-Cecile Bouchard of Charlevoix County. Born in 1924, she didn’t begin to paint until the two older artists had stopped working. Simone-Marie had died and Marie-Cecile entered a convent. Her mother encouraged her to paint and, using Marie-Cecile’s colors and brushes, she painted. She had always sculpted. Smaller pieces for the Family shop, among many other things, and:  jewelry – little carved and painted Fish as brooches and earrings and a specialty of hers: carved and painted Maple Leaves with painted Charlevoix scenes on them. Her favorite subjects as a painter were naive pictures of house interiors that showed the traditions and customs of Charlevoix women. An art critic of the time commenting on Edith said: “Les soeurs Bouchard chantent leur Pays”.  (The Bouchard sisters ‘sing’ their country.)

 

A mounted and framed example of a carved and Painted Maple Leaf by Edith Bouchard. 1930’s:

 

A self portrait by Edith Bouchard:

The label on the reverse of the self-portrait:

 

A Link to her Biography. Canadian Women Artist History Initiative website:

http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=133

Edith and the Bouchard Sister’s Story. From ‘Le Patrimoine Immateriel Religeux website:

http://www.ipir.ulaval.ca/fiche.php?id=612

Ref:Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires
Dubé, Richard et François Tremblay, Peindre un pays: Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires, Laprairie: Éditions Broquet, 1989, 160 p. (Collection; Signature Plus), ISBN: 2-89000-105-9

Ref: National Gallery of Canada. Artists in Canada. Union List of Artist’s Files.Ottawa. 1982.

Laure-Marie Bouchard. Sculptor. Painter. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid 20th Century.

“Joseph ramassait les morceaux de bois du moulin à scie, il les faisait sécher pendant trois ans puis les préparait avec soin pour les enfants sculpteurs. Installés dans la « boutique » avec les outils du père, les enfants Bouchard sculptaient dans le pin blanc patiemment préparé, des pièces le plus souvent inspirées de la nature et de leur quotidien : animaux et personnages de la ferme.”

A quote from  “Le Patrimoine Immateriel Religeux du Quebec.”

One of Laure-Marie Bouchard’s memories of her childhood: their father Joseph ‘Arsene’ would bring the pieces of Pine that he had  dried for three years and give them to the young sculptors to work. Installed in the ‘shop’ with the carving tools ‘du pere;’  the Bouchard children would carve pieces ‘most often inspired by nature and daily life’. Animals and ‘les personnages’ of the farm.

Laure-Marie Bouchard began sculpting when she was fifteen. With a horse she carved for her younger sisters and brothers. Carving was what she excelled at. She became a prize-winning artist and  travelers and tourists began collecting her carvings. They came  to ‘Le Moulin Cesar’ (what the family called the shop and mill where their father worked his trades) and bought all her works.

Her carvings were often simply varnished especially traditional religious ones and others were painted. She carved professionally for about 10 years when she felt called to the religious order and joined a convent in Chicoutimi, Quebec. One of the four Bouchard sisters who did so.

A very early work by Laure-Marie Bouchard. Carved and varnished Pine. About 12 inches high. 1930’s:

Laure-Marie Bouchard. Her mark:

 

 

A link to a site with some of her story (in French):

http://www.ipir.ulaval.ca/fiche.php?id=180

 

One of her Paintings. From Patrimoine Culturel du Quebec website:

http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=174835&type=bien#.U25PqfldVv0

Marie-Cecile Bouchard. Painter. Sculptor. Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active mid-20th century.

Taught how to paint when she was 18 by her sister, Simone-Marie, Marie-Cecile followed the steps of the other painters in the family. She became fluent in the medium,painting traditional interior scenes of the family and Charlevoix landscapes. Marie-Cecile Bouchard  attracted a broad following and collectors from around the world began buying her work. One critic remarking in 1945: “. . . . One of the most touching primitives that we have seen, a true painter of fairy tales; playing with a palette rich and, at the same time, delightfully unsophisti­cated.”   Her religous faith began to show in her work as a painter; and in 1947 she entered a convent in Chicoutimi, Quebec. She stopped painting untill two years before she died when she made 30 copies of her previous work. The collection of 30 paintings was kept together.

Ref:A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Vol.1, by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks, Ottawa, Revised and expanded, 1997

Ref:Canadian Women Artists History Initiative website:

http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=139

La Corniche Gallery. Chicoutimi, Quebec. Website:

http://www.galerielacorniche.com/en/marie-cecile-bouchard/

A Painting by Marie-Cecile Bouchard:

 

A Detailed image:

 

Simone-Marie Bouchard. Fabric Artist. Painter. Sculptor. Baie-Saint-Paue, Charlevoix, Quebec. Active second quarter 20th Century.

Mlle Bouchard lived and worked at home in Baie-Saint-Paul. She made hooked rugs that she sold to tourists, she painted also and made wood carvings as they all did. For these women, Simone-Marie, her sisters and their mother, making ornamental hooked rugs was one of the few ways of earning money during the depression years. And it opened the doors of artistic expression.  She drew rural scenes for the rugs and painted them as well. Bouchard met the ethnologist Barbeau and his assistant Jean Palardy during those years; repairing old textiles for Barbeau and making hooked rugs for Palardy  (who was also an artist) using his designs. These hooked rugs were sent to Galleries in Toronto and Montreal. By the mid 1930’s Barbeau and Palardy had seen Simone-Marie Bouchard’s paintings and Barbeau soon introduced her to American artists and collectors through shows in local Galleries and shows in New York soon followed.

It was with her paintings that she gained her fame. At one time she was described as Quebec’s greatest primitive painter (Alfred Pellan). She became a member of the Contemporary Arts Society of Montreal and showed her paintings in their exhibitions. In the Spring of 1941 she appeared in shows in Quebec and Montreal with ten of Canada’s modern artists; including Paul-Emile Borduas and Alfred Pellan. She was described as “one of the Contemporary Art Society’s eminent senior artists” and “our most powerful woman painter”. Gilles Henault referred to her pictures as “truly miraculous”.

It should be noted that she was also known as ‘Mary’ or Marie Bouchard. She sometimes signed as S. Mary or Simone-Mary as well as Simone-Marie or simply M.B. There is some confusion over this.

An embroidered needle painting of a pair of Pigeons, Silk on Linen, by Marie Bouchard. Signed M.B.:

 

 

A link here to the Heffel Auction Gallery with one of her works. A double-sided Oil painting on Silk:

http://www.heffel.com/auction/Details_E.aspx?ID=42252

Ref:A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Vol.1, by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks, Ottawa, Revised and expanded, 1997

Ref: Canadian Women Artists History Initiative website:

http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=134

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

Joseph-Arsene Bouchard (Joseph). Furniture maker. Sculptor. Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. Active early 20th Century.

Father of the Bouchard Family of artists in Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix County, Quebec. Joseph Bouchard was a cabinet maker and also a sculptor and wood carver. Works by him are rarely found today. In part because he rarely signed his work; like many other folk artists of the time, and because much of his work was sold to travelers in Charlevoix who collected his work and took it away with them. Signed work by him bear the initials J. B. and were sometimes painted. He Carved the animals found on the farm, painted fish carvings  and made utilitarian wooden kitchen pieces and furniture.

The Bouchard children, from Marie-Rosee to Aline, learned wood carving in his workshop at Moulin Cesar, Baie-Saint-Paul. Joseph Bouchard would bring them pieces of Pine for them to carve.

Edith Bouchard once said that the painting began when Mary Bouchard, her sister, was given a box of colors by an Aunt from the U.S.

They all began their artistic career at a young age. Exposed to art by the presence of Academy artists drawn to the Charlevoix because of it’s beauty; they participated in this artistic life. Their works were sold, as art and as simple souvenirs, widely in Canada. And also in the U.S. where, the painters especially, achieved renown. At least two of the sisters showed their paintings in New York galleries.

Their chosen subjects were the mills, the villages, the landscapes with cottages in the four seasons, house interiors with the family and life around the farms of Charlevoix County. Their works documented the life and customs of the region. It was an artistic life that they shared with all of the other artists who were attracted  to the region.

 

The Artists. (There is an entry for each in the Index):

Marie-Rosee Bouchard. Fibre Artist – Hooked Rugs. Painter.(1910-1994)

Marie-Cecile Bouchard. Painter. (sr.) (1920-1973)

Edith Bouchard. Sculptor. Painter. (sr.) (1924-2009)

Laure-Marie Bouchard. Sculptor. Painter. (sr.) (1922- )

Simone-Marie Bouchard. (Mary). Fibre Artist – Hooked Rugs. Painter. (1912-1945)

Aline Bouchard. Sculptor. Painter. (1934-2002)

 

Stanley Bouchard. Sculptor. (1916- 1994)

Joseph-Arthur Bouchard. Sculptor. (1928-2010)

Lucien Bouchard. Sculptor. (1925-2009)

Lionel Bouchard. Sculptor. (1927-1996)

 

A link to Some history of the Bouchard painters (In French):

http://www.ipir.ulaval.ca/fiche.php?id=612

Another Link to their stories (in French). There are one or two inaccuracies with dates. And they refer to ‘Simone-Marie’ as simply ‘Mary’. From Gallerie la Corniche Website:

http://www.galerielacorniche.com/blog/marie-cecile-bouchard/

Ref:Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires   
Dubé, Richard et François Tremblay, Peindre un pays: Charlevoix et ses peintres populaires, Laprairie: Éditions Broquet, 1989.

Ref: Jean Simard, Pour Passer Le Temps: Artistes Populaires Du Quebec, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles. 1985

Ref: Along Quebec Highways. Tourist guide. Department of Highways and Mines. Quebec. 1930. Pictures and maps of Quebec at that time.

Ref:  Jean-Francois Blanchette. Du Coq a l’ame:l’art Populaire a Quebec, Presse Universite D’Ottawa, 2014.