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GROS-LOUIS, Caroline

Born
Wendake, Quebec, 1876
Died
Wendake, Quebec, 1941
Biography synopsis
Caroline Gros-Louis was a Huron-Wendat artist, renowned for her moose-hair embroidery on headdresses and ceremonial clothing. She learned the traditional art from her mother, Marie Robigaud, who created moose-hair embroidered souvenirs for trade in the early 19th century, when Marguerite Vincent La8inonkie was organizing their production and export to settler colonies. By the time Gros-Louis began to embroider, this work had moved into the Gros-Louis and Sioui families in the Wendake community. She is especially known for a moose-hair embroidered chief's outfit that was a diplomatic gift to the Swedish Consul Folke Cronholm in 1905. Her painstakingly detailed embroidery earned her a spotlight in the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil in 1906, where the suit was named a "work of art." The immaculate red, white and green flower patterns on Cronholm's suit are a testament to Gros-Louis' talent, dedication and patience, especially upon consideration that individual moosehairs are so short that the needle must be re-threaded with a new hair for every stitch (de Stecher, 2014).
Media used
Moosehair
File & Archive locations
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Canadian Museum of History
Ethnographic Museum of World Culture, Stockholm
Conseil de Wendake Quebec
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Uniforme De Chef Huron." Le Soleil (Quebec City) 7 June 1906
Balvay, Arnaud. L'Epee et la Plume Quebec: Les Presses de l' Universite Laval, 2006
Beaulieu, Alain. "Les Hurons et la Conquete." Recherches amerindiennes au Quebec 30.3 (2000): 53-63
Boutilier, Alicia; Bruce, Tobi. The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Women Artists/ L'Artiste Elle-meme : Autoportraits De Femmes Artistes Au Canada Kingston; Hamilton: Agnes Etherington Art Centre; Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2015
de Stecher, Anne. "Huron-Wendat Visual Culture: Source of Economic Autonomy and Continuity of Traditional Culture." Canada Exposed/Le Canada a Decouvert Canadian Studies/Études Canadiennes 20, International Council for Canadian Studies, ed. Anctil, Pierre, Andre Loiselle and Christopher Rolfe 2009: 131-146
de Stecher, Annette. Wendat Women's Art. Montreal, Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2022
de Stecher, Annette. "Les Arts wendats au service de la diplomatie et de la traite" Recherches amerindiennes au Quebec 442-3 (2014): 65–77
de Stecher, Annette. "Souvenir Art, Collectable Craft, Cultural Heritage: The Wendat of Wendake Quebec." Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th Century, ed. Helland, Janice Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2014: 37-57
Delage, Denys. "La tradition de commerce chez les Hurons de Lorette-Wendake," Recherches Amerindiennes au Quebec 30.3 (2000): 35-51
Hamell, George R. Trading in Metaphors : The Magic of Beads : Another Perspective upon Indian-European Contact in Northeastern North America Albany, NY: New York State Museum, 1983
Helland, Janice, Lemire, Beverly, and Alena Buis (Eds). Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th-20th Century. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2014
Lemoine, J.M.. Picturesque Quebec. Montreal: Dawson, 1882
Linda Sioui. The Huron-Wendat Craft Industry from the 19th Century to Today Montreal: McCord Museum, 2007.
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/viewobject.php?lang=2&tourID=CW_HuronWendat_EN
Lindsay, LAbbe Lionel Saint-George. Notre-Dame de la Jeune Lorette. Montreal: La Cie de Publication de la Revue Canadienne, 1900
Phillips, Ruth B. Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast, 1700-1900. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998
Phillips, Ruth B. "Proper Place for Art Or the Proper Arts of Place? Native North American Objects and the Hierarchies of Art, Craft, and Souvenir." On Aboriginal Representation in the Gallery. Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2002
Sioui, Linda. La réaffirmation de l'identité wendate/wyandotte à l'heure de la mondialisation Wendake: Éditions Hannenorak, 2012

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