Description
This sculpture is part of a series of four wooden works created for the exhibition À la force d’une terre: François, Eutrope, Lorenzo, and Maria.
Referencing the main characters of Louis Hémon’s novel Maria Chapdelaine, the creation of these sculptures was an opportunity for artist Mathieu Rousseau to explore a new material—raw natural wood—and highlight this resource from the northern Lac-Saint-Jean region.
Carved from yellow birch logs and worked with a mechanical saw, these pieces allowed the artist to establish a symbolic link between the present and the past through the use of a tool that reflects the evolution of forest industry techniques and equipment. Furthermore, the raw finish and saw marks evoke the traditional woodworking practices of Lac-Saint-Jean’s residents during the time of Maria Chapdelaine.
The abstract sculpture representing Maria offers a broader perspective on the novel and bridges the artist’s key inspirations. It fuses wood (symbolizing nature and the forest), the importance of trees in regional history, the novel’s narrative driven by a female protagonist (with curves representing femininity), and the artist’s stylistic emphasis on line.
Its form is reminiscent of statues from ancient Greece that feature bodies without arms or sometimes without a head (e.g., Victory of Samothrace; Venus de Milo). The artist’s manipulation of the material led him to incorporate openings that echo the effects of transparency and porosity found in various works throughout the exhibition.
Mathieu Rousseau considers this sculpture the conclusion of the À la force d’une terre series.
Artist Biography
Born in Dolbeau-Mistassini in 1978, Mathieu Rousseau is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with painting, ceramics, and wood. His work blends figuration and abstraction. His deepest passion lies in painting, which he explores with a skillful use of line and color. His work has been exhibited at various artistic events in Canada and internationally (France, Italy, Spain, and the United States). His creations are included in several collections, including those of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), the Musée Louis-Hémon, and the Mouvement Desjardins.