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Artworks
Edith BouchardVieille Batisse, Baie St. Paul, 1952 (circa)1924-2009$3,500Inscriptions
signed, ‘Edith/Bouchard’ (lower right); titled, ‘[illegible] Vieille Bâtisse/ de/ Baie St Paul’ (verso, lower left)Provenance
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Private collection, MontrealBy descent to the present private collection, Montreal
Édith Bouchard was a younger sister of Simone Marie and Marie Cecile Bouchard, among the founders of Quebec’s tradition in folk art of the Charlevoix region. Her family, including her parents and 14 siblings, lived in the Moulin César, a historic property in Baie St Paul. According to the Canadian Women's Art History Initiative Database, Édith Bouchard began to paint when she was 23 years old, after Simone Mary's death and Marie-Cécile's entrance into the convent of the Antonin Sisters and that, “Édith took up Marie Cecile’s paints and brushes in 1947, in order to please her mother. The following year, she won 4th prize in a Quebec City exhibition. Her work was shown at the Dominion Gallery in 1952 along with that of her sisters'.” [1] She exhibited at Montreal’s Art Association of Montreal spring exhibitions in 4 annual shows in the early 1950s. Likely within a couple of years after painting Plaisirs d'hiver chez Joseph Simard Eustache, in 1954 Édith entered the Convent of the Antoniennes de Marie located in Chicoutimi, joining her sisters Laure-Marie, Annette and Marie-Cecile.
According to Soeursantoniennes.org, Édith continued to paint as a hobby. Of the 7 girls in the Bouchard family 4 became nuns. Art was adequately steeped in their family traditions that 4 of Édith’s brothers were artists or artisans. [2]
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Footnotes:
[1] Canadian Women's Art History Initiative (n.d.). Bouchard, Édith. In Canadian Women's Art History Initiative. Retrieved December 5, 2023, from https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=133
[2] Catherine Gaumond, “Les soeurs Bouchard, artistes antoniennes”, Le patrimoine immatériel religieux du Québec. Retrived December 6, 2023, http://www.ipir.ulaval.ca/fiche.php?id=612