Simone Mary Bouchard

Simone Mary Bouchard (1912–1945) was a Canadian painter and textile artist. She was known for her 'popular' or Outsider style of painting.^[1]

Simone Mary Bouchard
Born	1912 (1912) Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, Canada
Died	1945 (aged 32–33)
Known for	Painter

Early life

Simone Mary Bouchard was born in 1912 in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec.^[1] She began her career creating hooked rugs for the tourist trade. She became acquainted with the anthropologist Marius Barbeau, and his assistant, the ethnologist/painter Jean Palardy. Subsequently, Bouchard repaired textiles for Barbeau and produced rugs for Palardy.^[2]

Art career

In 1937 her work was included in and exhibition of North American outsider artists.^[3]

Barbeau and Palardy became aware of Bouchard's paintings, which were naive genre scenes. The men brought her work to the attention of other artists and collectors.^[2]

In 1941 Bouchard was included in the Première exposition des Indépendants exhibition at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City. This exhibition was organized by Marie-Alain Couturier and included eleven members of the Contemporary Arts Society; Bouchard,^[4] Paul-Émile Borduas, Stanley Cosgrove, Louise Landry Gadbois, Eric Goldberg, John Goodwin Lyman, Louis Muhlstock, Alfred Pellan, Goodridge Roberts, Jori Smith, and Philip Surrey.^[5] The exhibition traveled to Montreal.^[5]

The Dominion Art Gallery in Montreal held retrospectives of her work in 1947 and 1952.^[1]

Her work is included in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada^[6] and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.^[7]

Bouchard died in 1945 of a lung ailment.^[1]

In 2015, her work was included in The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Artists, an exhibition co-curated by Alicia Boutilier and Tobi Bruce who also co-edited the book/catalogue.^[8]