Sylvia Daoust

Sylvia Daoust
Sylvia Daoust by Gabriel Desmarais
October 1963 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
Born (1902-05-24)May 24, 1902
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died June 19, 2004(2004-06-19) (aged 102)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Nationality Canandian
Education Council of Arts & Manufactures,[1] Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal
Known for Sculpture

Sylvia Daoust, CM,[2] CQ (24 May 1902 – July 19, 2004[2]), born in Montreal, was one of the first female sculptors in Quebec. Sylvia Daoust was born in Montréal, Québec on May 24, 1902. She studied at the Council of Arts & Manufactures and the École des Beaux-Arts, under Charles Maillard and Maurice Feliz, and later under Edwin Holgate at the Montreal Arts Association.[3] In Europe, places such as France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Germany and England. She studied the works of important sculptors like Rodin, Despiau, Bourdelle, and Mestrovic, among others, and worked with Henri Charlier.

She has won many notable prizes for her work and they are exhibited in reputable institutions in the United States, Italy, and Canada. She is known to have make excellent portrait sculptures, as well as revitalizes the traditions of liturgical art which was originally established centuries ago by the first sculptures of the time.[3] Daoust was also one of the original members of the organization Le Retable d’Art Sacre, who helped transform the state of Roman Catholic churches in French Canada, which has set very high standards by the religious statues executed at the time.[3] Sylvia Daoust died in Montreal in 2004 at the age of 102.[3]

Life and education

Daoust was born in Montréal, Québec on May 24, 1902 and the eldest of seven children. While she became known for her sculptures, from an early age she began drawing, sketching, painting and sculpting clay figurines which caught the eye of the Sisters of St. Anne, who encouraged her to enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec.[4]

In 1915, she began studying at Conseil des arts et manufactures with Joseph Franchère, Joseph Saint-Charles et John Y. Johnstone[5] In 1923, Daoust enrolled in the École des beaux arts, which had just recently opened.[5] In 1927, she graduates with a specialized teaching degree in drawing.[5] In 1929, Daoust won the Lord Willingdon Competition[6] where she won the first-place prize in an inter-provincial competition for sculpture and in the same year received a scholarship to study in France from the province of Québec,[5] where she studied with Henri Charlier.[7] She returned home in 1930 and began teaching drawing, anatomy, modeling, and sculpting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Québec City until 1943.[4] Daoust then moved back to Montreal to be a professor of wood and stone sculpting where she remained until 1968.[5]

Work

Edouard Mont Petit (1967) by Sylvia Daoust
Frère Marie-Victorin (1951) by Sylvia Daoust

The majority of her works are religious in content and form. They have been described as a mixture between religious classicism and realism.

While she did extensive work in the classroom, 1948 marked the beginning her career in profane art alongside fellow artist and peer, Paul-Émile Borduas.[8] However, during the early 1940s there was the trend of newly invigorated movement of sacred art,[8] she became acquainted with Dom Bello, the architect of Saint Benedict Abbey in Saint-Benoit-du-Lac, Québec, marks a turning point for Daoust’s carrier.[6]

She puts aside her pursuit of profane art and delves into scared art, Dom Bellot was also in charge of Saint Joseph’s Oratory and worked in collaboration with Henri Charlier and Sylvia Daoust.[6] The transition into sacred art was marked by the production of approximately thirty wooden statues where Daoust added accents of colour and experimented with different materials such as aluminum and leather.[5] Daoust participated in over twenty exhibits and collectives, however much of work was not displayed in art galleries because of the nature of her work, as well as her works being commissioned or for herself.[5] In Montreal, at the Notre-Dame Basilica collection there are two large statues in wood made by Sylvia Daoust.[5] Her life-sized bronze sculpture of Nicholas Viel is on the façade of the National Assembly in Quebec City.[4] In Quebec she held a notable exhibition with her colleague Simone Hudon-Beaulac.[7]

Le Retable d’Art Sacre is an organization that Daoust was one of the original founding members, where she did work that advocated and pushed the standards of religious art within the Roman Catholic churches in Québec. While much Daoust work can be found unsigned in religious institutions, because her work was made by the public’s commission or for her personal collection. She continued to sculpt into her 90s, where her last works were for the chapel of the Holy Cross Fathers in Montreal.

Collections and awards

Daoust's works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada and Corbet Collection of Canadian Women Artists, among others.

Her works include the Nicolas Viel bronze adorning the façade of the Quebec Legislature (National Assembly), Mary Queen of the World at Montreal's Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, and a statue of Édouard Montpetit at the Université de Montréal.

In 1942, she won the first prize for Our Lady of Montreal in the competition held on the occasion of the Third Centenary of the Founding Nationale de St. Jean Baptiste.[3] In 1951, she was named to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and in 1961 she was awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Allied Arts Award.[4] In 1975, Daoust won the Philippe Hébert Prize by the St. Jean Baptiste Society.[5] In 1976, she was made a member of the Order of Canada and honoured in 1987 as a chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec.[5]

Honours

Notes

  1. ↑ "Daoust, Sylvia". Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Order of Canada: Sylvia D'Aoust, C.M., C.Q., A.R.C." Archives. Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hambleton, Josephine (1949). "Canadian Women Sculptors". Dalhousie Review. 39: 327–37.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Stone, M.J. "Sylvia Daoust 1902-2004: Artist made her mark in wood". The Globe and Mail.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bazin, Jules (1990). "Sylvia Daoust sculpteure". Vie des arts.
  6. 1 2 3 Nadeau, Jean-François. "Sylvia Daoust 1902-2004 - Une pionnière de la sculpture au Québec s'éteint à l'âge de 102 ans". Le devoir.
  7. 1 2 Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G. (2013-12-19). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  8. 1 2 Keables, Jacques. "SYLVIA DAOUST (1902-2004): La première sculpteure du Québec". Editions Fides.
  9. ↑ "Allied Arts Award". Awards of Excellence: Past Recipients. Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC). Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  10. ↑ "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.

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