Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté 1869 - 1937

Private Collection, St. Lambert

Other casts of this sculpture have been exhibited as follows:

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 34th Exhibition, Ottawa, November, 1912, no. 210, plaster model

Art Association of Montreal, March, 1913, plaster model

Royal Canadian Academy, 41st Exhibition, Toronto, November, 1919, no. 187, bronze (the bronze was cast in 1914)

British Empire Exhibition, Canadian Section of Fine Arts, Wembly, England, April, 1924, no. 236

Canadian Folk Song and Handicraft Festival, Quebec City, May, 1927

Rétrospective, Suzor-Coté, Montreal School of Fine Arts, December, 1929, no. 134

Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, August, 1930, no. 228

Sixth Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art, National Gallery, Ottawa, January, 1931, no. 23

Un siècle d'art Canadien, Arvida, Quebec, October, 1946, no. 20

Un siècle d'art Canadien, Rimouski, Quebec, June, 1949, no. 21

Portraits, Musée du Québec, July, 1996

Portraits, Musée du Québec, 1999

 

Laurier Lacroix, Light and Matter, Musée du Québec, 2003, p. 238.  See catalogue nos. 97 and 98, pp. 236 and 237 for colour illustrations of both

This bronze appears to be in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Le Vieux Pionnier, done in 1912 and La Compagne du Vieux Pionnier made six years later in 1918, have become icons of Canadian sculpture and made Suzor-Coté internationally famous. 

Although they are independent figures, they were marketed and exhibited as a pair, and, as a couple, they have entered the collective imagination of Canadians.

As Laurier Lacroix notes:

Though mute, they are eloquent, the body language of each evocative of the other, the curves that envelop the sculpted forms converse with one another, even as their lengthy bases conspire to keep them apart.

The male figure epitomizes the early French Canadian settler and his tools are sculpted in the base.

His wife, hunched over and concentrating on her knitting, is seated on a base which resembles the wooden floor of an interior, possibly a kitchen.

Apart, or together, they are a testament to the pioneers' stalwart fortitude.

According to the foundry stamp, this would have been cast prior to 1943.