Rodolphe Duguay

Rodolphe Duguay

Rodolphe Duguay, artist, engraver (b at Nicolet, Qué 1891; d there 1973). Duguay's work expresses a profound religious message based on goodness, innocence, purity and suffering. From a poor, rural environment, he began his studies at Montréal's Monument National in 1911 and became familiar with the tradition established in French Canada by artists such as Joseph SAINT-CHARLES, Alfred LALIBERTÉ and Ozias LEDUC, as well as SUZOR-COTÉ with whom he worked 1918-20. From 1920 until 1927, he stayed in Paris, travelled around Europe, studied at the Académie Julian and learned in 1925 the techniques of wood engraving. It was in this medium that Duguay achieved his most original expression, in illustrating the texts of his wife, Jeanne L'Archevêque-Duguay (Écrin, 1934; Cantilènes, 1936; Offrande, 1942), as well as those of many other writers, including Clément Marchand (Courrier des villages, 1941).

In 1935, encouraged by Mgr. Albert Tessier of Trois-Rivières, he began the publication of two series of wood engravings that made his work more widely known. His Carnets intimes, covering his activities in Europe, were published in 1978. Various exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada (1975), the Musée du Québec (1977) and Nicolet (1991) showed his engravings and paintings as part of the slow movement toward modern art expression in Québec.