L’hydrographe by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté

Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario

Literature:
Pierre L’Allier, “Suzor-Coté l’oeuvre sculpte”, Musée du Québec, Quebec, 1991, pages 94-95, reproduced pages 92, 94

“L’hydrographe” was produced during one of Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté’s most productive creative periods. The artist utilized the medium of bronze to form famous genre sculptures with a sense of vitality and dynamism. The Historical Monuments Commission in Quebec employed Suzor-Coté in 1923 to create a statue of the French-Canadian explorer, Louis Jolliet, for placement on the façade of the Parliament Building in Quebec City. Jolliet achieved international fame in his lifetime for travelling and mapping the Mississippi River with Jacques Marquette. As a seasoned cartographer and prospector, Jolliet also mapped the Lake Superior regions, the area between the Saguenay River and Hudson’s Bay, as well as part of the coast of Labrador. During the course of his artistic process, Suzor-Coté developed three preliminary sculptures of the renowned Canadian explorer: “L’hydrographe”, which depicts Jolliet recording details of his findings with a quill; “Le pionnier”, showing the voyager surveying his surroundings with a telescope; and “Le coureur de bois”, which presents the adventurer with a walking stick and provisions in hand. These three inspired sculptures led to the artist’s final depiction of the pivotal figure, “Jolliet”, built upon the important narrative aspects of his character. The Commission opted for this final representation of Jolliet as a conquering discoverer.