Baroque to Neo-Classical: Sculpture in Quebec

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

This comprehensive, well-researched, and meticulously documented book
was published to coincide with an exhibition that traveled from Ottawa
to Vancouver in 1997. The scholarly but readable text is supplemented
with black-and-white photographs of sculptures and details of
sculptures. In addition to a comprehensive catalogue of the pieces in
the exhibition, there is an appendix listing the library holdings of
Quebec Sculptor Franзois Baillairge (1759–1830) and an extensive
bibliography that includes manuscripts, registers of notaries, parish
files, gallery holdings, and publications. An index lists the names and
titles of the pieces. The book’s three chapters, together with the
reprinted catalogue of the exhibition, provide a chronological overview,
a critical appreciation, and many insights into the religious, artistic,
and cultural traditions that influenced Quebec’s sculptors in the
creation of their statuary and liturgical furniture.

Although Baroque to Neo-Classical will appeal most obviously to art
historians, educators, and visual artists (especially those associated
with francophone art and culture), it is worthy of a much broader
audience.