Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, June 14, 2023: Alfred Laliberté, a Québécois sculptor (#1827)

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Artist of the Day, June 14, 2023: Alfred Laliberté, a Québécois sculptor (#1827)

Alfred Laliberté RCA (1877 – 1953) was a French-Canadian (Québec) sculptor and painter based in Montreal. His output includes more than 900 sculptures in bronze, marble, wood, and plaster. Many of his sculptures depict national figures and events in Canada and France such as Louis Hébert, François-Xavier-Antoine Labelle, Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, and the Lower Canada Rebellion. Although he produced hundreds of paintings as well, he is chiefly remembered for his work as a sculptor.

Born in Sainte-Élisabeth-de-Warwick, Quebec, in the district of Arthabaska, Laliberté was the son of Joseph Laliberté, a farmer, and Marie Richard. From an early age he began learning the agricultural trade and he initially intended on working in the family business. He began sculpting as a hobby at the age of 15. His work drew the attention of the Honourable Wilfrid Laurier who encouraged him to enter the Conseil des arts et manufactures (CAM) in Montreal. It was largely through Laurier's attention that Laliberté earned his father's approval to enter the CAM in 1896. In 1888 he won first prize at the Québec City Provincial Exhibition for his life size sculpture of Laurier.

In 1902, Laliberté entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the age of 23. While there he became friends with his compatriot, the painter Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté. He returned to Canada in 1907 where he began producing works that showed a marked influence of the sculptor Auguste Rodin.

In 1922, Laliberté joined the faculty of the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (now a part of the Université du Québec à Montréal). Alfred Laliberté cofounded the Sculptors Society of Canada in 1928 with Frances Loring, Florence Wyle, Elizabeth Wyn Wood, Wood's teacher and husband Emanuel Hahn and Henri Hébert. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Between 1928 and 1932, he produced 215 small bronze sculptures depicting legends, customs and rural activities of the past and present history of the pioneers of Canada. On 22 June 1940, he married Jeanne Lavallee. He wrote three manuscripts about his life and works, Mes mémoires, Réflexions sur l'art et l'artiste, and Les artistes de mon temps, all of which were published together in 1978 under the title Mes souvenirs.

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