The Man

The Beauregard Collection is the work of one man, Louis-Émile Beauregard. Sculpture was, for him, the story of a life, a passion…

Louis-Émile Beauregard was born in the Eastern Townships at Saint-Adolphe-de-Dudswell on July 30, 1922. The eldest of eleven children, he quickly learned to follow in the footsteps of his father in the wood-working shop. Allowing free reign to his imagination, he took over the making of toys for his brothers and sisters.

During the Second World War, Louis-Émile did two years of military service. It was at this time that he met Marie-Claire Sauvé, a young lady from Montreal. They married in Montreal on July 20 1946, and came to live in Dudswell. Six children were born from their union, and Nicole would be a source of inspiration and motivation to the creation of the Collection.

Over the years, Louis-Émile Beauregard took up several trades: cabinet maker, general store man, bus driver and post master, a function which he occupied up to his retirement, that is to say for 25 years. He also had several important jobs in the community for 32 years.

Throughout his numerous jobs and his active engagement in the community, Louis-Émile Beauregard spent time on his leisure activities, which were mainly manual. It was not until 47 years of age that he took up sculpting to fill his spare time. His first creations were garden ornaments and an imposing train convoy. In 1977, at 55 years old, he started to work on embossed sculpting in an intensive way. His passion for this popular form of art drove him to throw himself fully into this project, which proved to be a dream for him, to reproduce the world of his childhood, rural life in the years 1920 to 1940.

In order to realize his dream, Louis-Émile Beauregard had to put his heart into the work. Thus he spent his Sundays seeking new ideas and taking photos, as well as measuring things to reproduce. During the week, Louis-Émile spent most of his evenings sculpting. A hard worker, he could spend 40 to 500 hours on each of the pieces he sculpted. He used and privileged linden wood because of its pale colour, which it retained over the years. However some pieces were sculpted in pine. He collected a thousand and one little objects : bald electric wire and cuttings from hand bags which could serve as harnesses and chains for horses. Louis-Émile reproduced, with the greatest care, scenes from daily life, agricultural tools and means of transport with functioning mechanisms, dating from the beginning of the 20th century.

Louis-Émile Beauregard exhibited his first pieces on top of postal boxes and already they drew admiration. He had his first exhibition in Marbleton in 1978. This exhibition subsequently took him all over the Eastern Townships. In 1983, Louis-Émile Beauregard officially opened the heritage museum. He succeeded in integrating his museum into regional tourist circuits.

Louis-Émile Beauregard died on February 5, 1989 at the age of 66. He left an impressive inheritance of a collection of 66 model wooden sculptures. After his death, the children of Louis-Émile gave the Collection to the municipality of Dudswell. Since 1998, the ATCD has been the guardian of this patrimonial treasure. Louis-Émile Beauregard had a dream… the ATCD is following it.

* A longer and detailed version is available in French only, requiring Acrobat Reader to view it: Biography
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