Lot 42: SUZANNE DUQUET 1916 - 2000

SUZANNE DUQUET 1916 - 2000 LA FEMME EN VERT signed lower left S. Duquet; signed and inscribed Montreal on the stretcher and titled by the artist on the reverse oil on canvas 76.2 by 61.0 cm. 30 by 24 in.

Maria Tippett, By a Lady, Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women, Toronto, 1992, p. 87; see p. 63 for another portrait by the artist reproduced in colour

Private Collection, British Columbia

Private Collection, Vancouver

Private Collection, British Columbia

Suzanne Duquet studied at the Montreal École des beaux-arts in the 1930's. La Femme en Vert, with its strong composition and vivacious sense of colour, demonstrate the influence of Expressionism on Duquet. Her body of work from 1934 to 1954 featured portraits of women, and as Maria Tippett notes: "the elegance of women's attitudes, gestures, hair and clothing was a... source of inspiration."

Duquet is one of the earlier modernists of Quebec and Canada whose strong work has not been sufficiently recognized as yet. She remains one of the unsung artists of her generation.