Marc-Aurèle De Foy Suzor-Coté

Canadian. RCA, Painter, Sculptor

Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté was born in Arthabaska in 1869 and died in Daytona Beach in 1937. Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté is a painter, sculptor and decorator of churches. He is considered by many to be the most versatile artist in French Canada. Known for its landscapes of the rivers of Arthabaska at the melting of the snow, its subjects of predilection also include the genre, the history, the portraits and the feminine nude.

From a young age Suzor-Coté showed a talent for drawing. As a young man, he studied with the painter-decorator Joseph-Thomas Rousseau. Together, they create complex decorations in several churches of Arthabaska and the region. Seeking to perfect his artistic education, Suzor-Coté made the first of many voyages in France in 1891, he was influenced by Impressionism. He attended lessons in human form at the École des Beaux-Arts and began to explore the countryside for sketches.

Inspired by French painters such as Jean-François Millet, Suzor-Coté was interested in local painters in paintings like Retour des champs, 1903. He began sculpting in 1907, a technique with which he continued his exploration of the theme of As in Caughnawaga's Women, 1924. In 1909 he was commissioned to paint the portrait of Sir Wilfred Laurier. Suzor-Coté won several awards and honors, including the bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900. He is also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

On December 4, 1929, the newspaper La Presse reported: "Suzor-Coté is the national painter par excellence. Art critic Morgan Powell points out that "his landscapes have a richness, an immensity, a sense of wide open spaces. When I compare one of his forest scenes with the so-called Forestry Studies of the Group of Seven, I feel I'm comparing a giant to a pygmy. "

Source: National Museum of Canada

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