Lot 85
MARC-AURELE DE FOY SUZOR-COTE, R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario.
Literature:
Laurier Lacroix, “Suzor-Cote: light and matter”, Musee du Quebec, Quebec, 2002, page 269, illustrated.
Note:
Marc-Aurele de Foy Suzor-Cote’s mastery of sculpture is clearly evident in “Le Portageur”, executed in 1922. It is an example of a group of sculptures by Suzor-cote that highlighted the difficult living conditions of the French-Canadian habitants and in particular the coureur des bois.
Laurier Lacroix notes that “The theme of the coureur des bois carrying a pack on his back first apprears in Suzor-Cote’s work as an illustration in the novel, “Maria Chapdelaine” (1916). There, Francois Paradis is shown in a winter setting at the edge of a forest, dragging a sledge and bent over with the weight of his load. In the sculpture, “Le Portageur” (cat.114), (fig.107), the coureur des bois packs on his back all the contents of his canoe to bypass river rapids.”