By Ines Keane
Start with a number that does not quite agree with itself. Trans-Canada Highway’s travel site says about 3,000 people live here. Wikipedia gives 3,304 for the 2011 census. Either way it is a small village on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, roughly an hour east of Quebec City, and it is known across the country for wood.
Where it sits
Wikipedia places Saint-Jean-Port-Joli in the L’Islet regional county municipality, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, and says it is reached from Autoroute 20, with Route 132 running through the village. It dates the seigneury of Port-Joly to 1677, the parish to 1721, and the start of work on the church to 1779. It adds that the church houses many sculptures. Wikipedia also says the village was named Canada’s cultural capital in 2005.
Three brothers in berets
Both of the biographical sources we read tell the story through three brothers: MĂ©dard, AndrĂ© and Jean-Julien Bourgault, known as “les trois bĂ©rets”.
A gallery’s blog, which sells art, says MĂ©dard taught himself to carve with a pocketknife while working as a sailor and became a full-time sculptor in 1927. An art-reference dictionary says AndrĂ© came from a family of joiners and carpenters, went to sea as a merchant shipper at 16, and was self-taught. It says the three brothers began making sculptures in the early 1930s. Wikipedia says only that the tradition began “in the early 20th century”.
Those are three different starting points: 1927, the early 1930s, and a general century. Our reading: MĂ©dard may have started alone before the brothers worked as a group, but neither source says so, and we do not know.
What each carved
The gallery blog gives each brother a subject. MĂ©dard made religious works. AndrĂ© carved rural life, such as sailors, lumberjacks and farmers. Jean-Julien made large reliefs, religious sculptures and political reliefs. The art dictionary sums up the group’s work as folkloric and traditional, centred on rural and religious values in Quebec, and says that is why it was popular.
The school
According to the gallery blog, MĂ©dard and Jean-Julien founded the École de sculpture de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli in 1940 with Quebec government support, and AndrĂ© became its director in 1952. The art dictionary also gives 1940 and says the school attracted many young artisans. It says AndrĂ© worked for several years in the school’s workshops.
Side by side
| Point | Gallery blog | Art dictionary |
|---|---|---|
| Brothers’ start | MĂ©dard full-time in 1927 | Early 1930s, all three |
| AndrĂ©’s years | 1898 to 1958 | Entry title: 1898 to 1957 |
| School founded | 1940 | 1940 |
The 1957 and 1958 dates for André sit in two sources, and we do not choose.
The museum and the workshop
Quebec’s tourism site, Bonjour QuĂ©bec, describes the MusĂ©e de sculptures sur bois as an interpretation centre on the history of sculpture and crafts in the village. It calls it “considered the most prestigious wood sculpture museum in North America”. That is promotional wording, not a ranking we can test. The art dictionary says AndrĂ©’s works are shown in this museum and at the McCord Museum in MontrĂ©al, and the gallery blog adds the Canadian Museum of History.
The Trans-Canada Highway site says the museum holds original carvings by artists including the Bourgault brothers, and that in high season visitors can watch woodcarvers at work. It also lists the Maison MĂ©dard-Bourgault on Route 132, which covers the life and creations of MĂ©dard. It describes the village as the “Woodcrafting Capital of Canada”. The gallery blog calls it a “mecca for the art of wood sculpture”. Both are labels, not measurements. Opening dates change each year, and we have left them out.
The calendar
Wikipedia lists three events: a weekend festival of maritime heritage, legends and songs; a fiddle festival held every September since 1998; and a February ice sculpture festival at Trois-BĂ©rets park, with ice sculptors from around the world. Dates move, and we have not checked this year’s.
Why a woodcarver’s village matters to a buyer
A carved figure is easy to admire and hard to judge. Knowing the village’s history gives you questions. Who taught the maker? What did the school’s carvers choose to carve, and why? Is the piece traditional in subject or newly drawn? None of the sources we read tells you how to price or grade a carving, and we do not claim to.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia, which anyone can edit. A gallery’s blog, written by a business that sells art. An art-reference dictionary. A provincial tourism listing and a travel site, both promotional. No archive or museum catalogue was read, so everything here is a secondary account.
What we left out
Opening hours, entry details and prices. Any living carver. A claim about the village’s history in 1759 that Wikipedia itself flags as needing a citation. Which woods the brothers used, because the one source that could say did not.
Quick answers
Why is Saint-Jean-Port-Joli known for woodcarving? According to Wikipedia, the tradition began in the early twentieth century with the Bourgault brothers, MĂ©dard, Jean-Julien and AndrĂ©. A gallery’s blog says two of them founded a carving school there in 1940.
Who were “les trois bĂ©rets”? An art-reference dictionary says they were the three Bourgault brothers, who began making wood sculptures in the early 1930s. Their works centre on rural and religious themes of Quebec.
Where can you see Bourgault carvings? The Trans-Canada Highway travel site says the MusĂ©e des anciens canadiens holds original carvings by the Bourgault brothers. The art dictionary says AndrĂ©’s works are also shown at the McCord Museum in MontrĂ©al.
Related on this site: nanaimo-bar-chocolate-square-1952-recipe, crokinole-wettlaufer-board-1876-tavistock, poutine-warwick-drummondville-origin-claims
Roam first. Shop later.