Bacchante by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté

Provenance:
Gift of the artist’s family
Private Collection

Born in 1869 in the Quebec village of Arthabaska, the young Marc‒ Aurèle de Foy Suzor‒Coté excelled in both musical and artistic pursuits, though his love of painting took precedence, which led him to move to Paris in 1891 for three years of art studies at the École de beaux‒arts. He returned to North America briefly, before returning to Europe for an extended period between 1897 and 1907. By 1906 he had left behind the academic realism of his early work, developing instead a bold impressionistic style after being exposed to the avant‒garde movements in Europe. Upon return to Canada, he painted landscapes in an impressionistic style which was unfamiliar to local audiences of the time.

The multi‒talented Quebec artist was also able to seamlessly shift from painting to working in three dimensions. His bronzes were cast in New York at the Roman Bronze Works and became sought after by collectors in Canada and the United States. He produced over forty different bronze figures and groups. “Bacchante” is an intimate bronze sculpture of a woman in a seated and twisted pose. In Roman mythology, a Bacchante is a female worshipper of the Bacchus, the god of wine and winemaking. They have been depicted throughout art history as frenzied women in a state of religious ecstasy ‒ a combination of dancing and intoxication.