The
Life and Works of Adelard Coté Folk Artist
L'Enclume et le
Couteau, The Life and Works of Adelard Coté Folk Artist was
originally published by the National Materials Development Center,
Manchester,N.H. in1982. It has now been reprinted and is available
to readers and researchers of Franco-American folk art. It was out
of print for many years until the author decided to get a reprint
done. The work deals essentially with the wooden sculptures and the
life of Adelard Coté (1889-1974) who emigrated from St-Pierre-Baptiste,
Québec to Biddeford, Maine in 1913. The Forward relates how
the author met Mr. Coté in 1971 and is followed by an introduction
to the history of the city of Biddeford from 1610 to 1920. The third
section concentrates on the artifacts.
Most of Mr. Coté's
sculptures are hand painted; he used any kind of available wood and
worked not only with wood but also metal and leather. He was an illiterate
farmer turned blacksmith who during the winter months spent his time
carving: horses, carts, other animals such as cows and pigs, spinning
wheels, chairs and human figures. His most intricate ones are his
farmer and son with a team of horses pulling a tipping cart as well
as a little plowman with plow and moldboard pulled by two workhorses
with an intricate assemblage of straps, buckles and swingle bars.
Mr. Coté painted and/or varnished all of his pieces. He never
sold any of them but relished making them for his own pleasure often
exhibiting them at agricultural fairs such as, the Fryeburg Fair and
the Rochester Fair where he won first prize for his choice pieces.
The book includes 58 black and white photos of many of the sculptures
and of the wife of Mr. Coté, Éva, taken by Stephen Muskie
the son of the late Senator Muskie who happened to be a neighbor of
Norman Beaupré at that time.
Adelard Coté's wood
sculptures are unique inasmuch as they stand out as a reflection of
the traditional way of life of the Québécois ancestors
of the Franco-Americans. They are a faithful testimony of the way
rural Québec worked and lived in the 19th Century through the
early 20th that was brought here in New England by the French-Canadian
immigrants.
ISBN: 9781595268600
Language: French/English
Reprinted
in 2007 by Llumina
Press.
