Hand-Carved Wood Sculpture by Paul Emile Caron

Paul Emile Caron (1915-1987) was a master sculptor in St.-Jean-Port-Joli, a province of Quebec, Canada. He began carving in 1945 and continued into the 1960's. Caron completely hand carved this 18 inch tall sculpture with a flat plane and chisel. It depicts a bearded French-Canadian man standing slouched with hands in pockets and his walking stick under his left arm. The fine details are superb, from the expression on his face to the tiny buttons on his jacket.

The man is standing on an octagonal, 2 1/4 inch high base that Caron chip-carved his signature into: P.E. CARON. This signature is important, since the Caron business was sold in 1976 and the carvings are now mass-produced, with the name "Caron" stamped into the center of the base. We have included an example of a mass-produced "signature" for you to compare.

The bottom of the base is covered in red felt with "48-1-18" written in black; this could be the date (January 18, 1948) it was completed or a customer purchased it at the studio or has some other meaning. There is also stamped information in the lower right hand corner...we can make out "Quebec Canada" only.

The base of this statue measures 5 3/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches and it weighs 2 pounds 3 ounces. It's in excellent condition, with a lovely natural patina to the wood and no chips, cracks or missing pieces...even the removable, hand-carved walking stick is fully intact and undamaged. This genuine Caron carving displays handsomely wherever it stands.

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