Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté

Who was Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté?

Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté was a Canadian painter and sculptor. He was one of the first native-born Canadian artists whose works were directly influenced by the Old World's Impressionism of the 1860s.

He was born in Arthabaska, Quebec in 1869. His father was an artist. He studied at the Collège du Sacré-Coeur, Arthabaska. He was a baritone, who studied music at the Conservatory of Music in Paris in 1890. He studied painting and sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris with Léon Bonnat during the 1890s. He studied painting and sculpture at the Julian and Colarossi Academies. He exhibited his works in 1894 at the Salon des Artistes Français. His "Death of Archimedes" won the Grand Prize at the Paris Salon.

After his return to Quebec in 1908, he established a studio in Montreal with classic interpretations of Canadian landscapes. He produced many impressionist paintings of the Quebec landscape, as well as portraits, nudes, historical paintings and later sculptures. He was also interested in the play of light on snow and water.

Suzor-Coté was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Suzor-Coté became paralyzed in 1927.