MARIA CHAPDELAINE

bronze

9.75 x 9.5 x 5.5 in. (24.8 x 24.1 x 14 cm)

Price Realized:

10350.00 CAD.

INCLUDES BUYER’S PREMIUM

Notes:

signed, titled & dated;
inscribed “Roman Bronze Works NY”
Provenance: Purchased from the Farmer Collection, Montreal (grand-niece of Suzor-Cote)
Reference: National Gallery of Canada (acc. #28394)
Note: Illustrated p. 88 “Suzor-Cote, L’ Oeuvre Sculpte” (L’Allier); p. 251 “Suzor-Cote, Light and Matter” (Lacroix).

This work is one of two bronzes of the same title that were produced by Suzor-Cote in 1925. They are based on the central character in the 1916 novel “Maria Chapdelaine”, written by Louis Hemon. Suzor-Cote also illustrated an edition of this book that tells the story of a Quebec woman who turns down a life of wealth and leisure to marry a local boy. She is an important, archetypal figure who foregoes personal comfort and gain to choose a more difficult path, thus ensuring a greater good – the preservation of religious and social values, and the continuation of the traditional, rural way of life.