In late September of ?04 while on holiday in Quebec City, Ian and his wife were taken by friends across the St Laurence river to the south east side and up the coast road, north east for about 60 miles to the carving town of Ste-Jean-Port-Joli, which the French Canadians quite rightly call the Capitol of Sculpture. although by UK standards it is a ribbon development village stretching along the road for about two miles. In that distance there are 40 carving studios and salerooms, nine museums or galleries and twenty five guest houses with restaurants.
The carvings of this community are famous across Canada and can be seen in every Canadian airport gift shop, though the quality can vary enormously. Why so many carvers in one spot, and why in such a relatively out of the way spot? Long before the English took over Canada, the French were colonising the Saint Laurence River valley. In 1675 Bishop Laval brought a shipload of wood artisans from France to Quebec. At that time the Roman Catholic Church was the greatest single patron and employer of carvers, sculptors and gilders. As a result, many of the old parish churches along the St Lawrence River banks contain wonderful Baroque wood sculptures and decoration. In the eighteenth century, decorative carving furnishings reached their peak; in French Canada as in Europe. A hundred years later it was in decline and by 1901 was almost a lost art. Yet in the 1950s as many as sixty different wood-carving families, led by Medard Bourgault and his brother, Andre and Jean-Julien, were making a living and keeping the craft alive in Port-Joli. Also among those leaders were the Leclerc, Chamard, Deschenes and Caron families.  From conversations with some carvers, it would appear that in the first half of the twentieth century the members of an essentially rural community followed the lead of the few remaining sculpting families in the area in order to make some money during the long, harsh winters of the coastal settlement. Today, professional Canadian carvers migrate to Ste-Jean-Port-Joli because that is where serious collectors of wood sculpture go when they have money to spend. At least two days could have been spent browsing round the Musee des Anciens Canadiens near the centre of the village. What an astonishing collection of fabulous woodcarving brought together in one place! Four large rooms and a saleroom. The work ranges in size from 15 centimetres to free standing life size pieces. A lot of the smaller work was behind glass which presented problems when using a digital camera and not depending on flash. A great bonus is that during the peak tourist season, Louis Lavoie carves there three days a week, tucked away in a corner of one of the display areas. Included are a few photographs in an attempt to show the range and scale of work on display. |
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