Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté
1869 – 1937
“I have worked hard and applied myself wholeheartedly as a painter can when he loves his art, is totally absorbed by it and makes it the purpose of his life.” (1901)
Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté was a painter, sculptor, and church decorator. He is regarded by many as French Canada’s most versatile artist. Known for his landscapes of the thawing winter rivers of Arthabaska, his topics also include genre, history, portraits, and the female nude.
Suzor-Coté showed a talent for drawing from an early age. As a young man, he apprenticed with painter-decorator Joseph-Thomas Rousseau. Together, they created intricate decorations in several churches in and around Arthabaska. Looking to further his art education, Suzor-Coté made his first of many trips to France in 1891. He took lessons in rendering the human form at the École des Beaux-Arts and began to sketch the countryside en plein air.
Inspired by French painters like Jean-François Millet, Suzor-Coté began to focus on local farmers in paintings such as Return from the Harvest Field, 1903. He began his sculptural work in 1907, where he continued the theme of daily life, as in Caughnawaga Women, 1924. In 1909, he received a commission to paint the portrait of Sir Wilfred Laurier. Suzor-Coté received many awards and distinctions, including the bronze medal at the 1900 Paris World Fair. He was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Courtesy the National Gallery of Canada
Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté
Born: Arthabaska, Qué 5 Apr 1869
Died: Daytona Beach, Fla 27 Jan 1937
Suzor-Coté’s highly successful career was the result of his sure talent, his extroverted personality and favourable circumstances. In secondary school, his talent for drawing attracted attention and in 1887 he became involved in the church decoration projects of the Joseph Rousseau company of St-Hyacinthe. Through family connections he met Wilfrid Laurier, from whom he secured numerous commissions.
He led a cosmopolitan existence between 1891 and 1912, travelling constantly between Canada, the US and Europe. He studied in France (1891-94, 1897-1901) where he acquired sound training from Bonnat at the École des beaux-arts, and later from Harpignies, and in the open studios of Julian and Colarossi. From 1892 on, he attracted attention at exhibitions of the Art Assn of Montreal (he won the Jessie Dow award for Les fumées, port de Montréal in 1912), at the salons of the Société des artistes français in Paris as early as 1894, and at Royal Canadian Academy of Arts exhibitions. In 1901, William Scott and Son of Montréal became his dealer, spreading his popularity. Further European travels 1904-07 and 1911-12 firmly established his reputation.
As his fame grew, however, so did his desire for a more private life. After 1912 he worked in the Arthabaska studio he had built in 1895 and in his Montréal studio. He mastered pastels as well as oils, and in 1911 began developing his talent for sculpting, in which he excelled after 1918. In this medium he returned to the rural subjects of his canvases and, inspired by his surroundings or by literary works such as Maria Chapdelaine, he gave them new life. He was able to capture famous historical events as well as winter scenes with subtle use of colour and disciplined execution. A master artist, he had to abandon all his activity after becoming paralysed in 1927.
Courtesy the Canadian Encyclopedia