PHILIPPE SIROIS - AT FIRST GLANCE

By Gene and Linda Kangas

Research Assistant Chuck Kluka

PHILIPPE SIROIS is an accomplished North American folk artist, a fact attested to by the genuinely significant body of carvings he has produced during the past half century. The carvings are his own design in several significant aspects. They can be related to the works of late 19th century trompe l'oel painters such as William Harnett and Alexander Pope who, among other expressions, attempted to render "eye-fooling" hanging game paintings. For effect, their paintings relied on an extreme realism that concentrated on minute detailing. Sirois' carvings may also be compared on a superficial level with the popular service area of the taxidermist whose main business purpose is the preservation of trophy catches as documentation of sport. Sirois' bas relief fish carvings are a documentation of the sport of fishing in the true trompe l'oel sense. Each of his fish is an exact scale carving and painting of a fish he caught primarily to eat; and at first glance, Sirois' fish carvings appear to be as real as the fish he caught.

These graphic fish carvings range in size from 6-1/2" in length to about 40" in length with some carved in full-bodied high relief, while others are carved one-half or three-quarter bodied. All of the fish are painted on only the visible surfaces of the front, top and bottom in a manner of presentation that is typical of other folk artists. The carved fish are mounted with screws and "elephant" glue on wall plaques of Sirois' own making. Each board is speciallly suited in size and coloration to its own fish. A few of the boards are grain painted in a style similar to the 19th century North American painted furniture to depict certain native woods such as birch or maple, others are more subtley grained, and still others are simply varnished backgrounds complimenting the coloration of the individual fish mounted on them. All of the boards have accented edges.

In his own opinion, the most difficult fish to paint was the Eastern Brook Trout (also known as the "Red Spot") because of its many subtle colors and intricate patterns. However, jumping fish with twisted tails or bodies were the more laborious for him to carve from the sugar pine which he prefers to use for all of his work. Upon close examination, his facility with only a limited number of hand tools is quickly evident. Individual scales on the fish were incised by the use of either a knife or one of four or five different-sized punches he used to suggest scales. By visual measurement, Sirois knew the size and weight of each fish. He often made patterns for fins by tracing around real ones so he could cut out accurate wooden replicas; and on occasion, he has used the real fins on his wooden fish.

The linear ribbed cavring on all of the fins and tails very accurately describes through suggestion the directional flow of each body. At the same time, they are crafted in more of a rough expressionistic manner than the appearing photographic results. For instance, sharp nails are used to represent teeth. Since individual anatomical parts such as fins, teeth, gills or scales are the right proportionate size, shape and color are placed in their proper locations, they become believable--they become real.

The painted surfaces are consistent with this approach. Layer upon layer of rich color are applied one over the other to help produce the impression of real fish, while in reality the surfaces are constructed of a basic series of bruch strokes visible as dots, stripes, blends and washes. On top of the paint several coats of glossy varnish are applied to help complete the illusion of real, wet fish.

The total combination of the painting and carving on Sirois' fish has produced a most startling result: they appear totally lifelike in all aspects, but in reality they are created in a direct and almost systematic manner especially in their detailing. Similar design concepts are found in working duck and goose hunting decoys (he has carved and repaired a few) which may look surprisingly real from a distance, as was their intention; but upon close inspection most are found to be an economical combination of basic form and simple paint patterns. It is this factor of successful economy that has been recognized and appreciated in the field of naive art. This aesthetic quality of his work is one of its most important characteristics. Sirois, as a folk artist, has developed the ability within his simple means to produce objects of art which rival the work of the most accomplished and recognized fish decoy carvers such as Jenner or Dehate while his remain carefree, loose and identifiable as pure Sirois.

A lifetime of experience in the outdoors has helped Phillippe Sirois develop a sensitivity in his creations to the life qualities of the wildlife of Maine. His French-Canadian heritage, perhaps, has influenced his interest in surface detail which has conceptual similarities to those Canadian decoys with intricately carved feather patterns, as well as decoys from the bayous of Louisiana that display elaborately painted feathers in what is termed an impressionistic manner.

His quiet sense of humor emerges through his French-Canadian accent as he jokes with those who visit. When questioned, he doesn't remember certain things from the distant past, such as exactly why he carved his first fish. He just did, and that is that! With his small dog as constant companion, he still angles for fish, but seldom carves the big ones. In his words, he doesn't feel he'll be carving much anymore since his hands are very shakey and not capable of producing the quality of the past.

Philippe Sirois was born in 1893 along the St Lawrence in Canada. By 1899 he moved to Maine with his parents, and at ten years of age was already working in the dusty textile mills earning 25 cents a day. With only one year of schooling, he had no complete formal education. By leaving the mills at age 14 for more preferred work in the clean air of the Maine woods, he took the first step to what later became his lifetime love of carving and painting nature's wildlife. There, he worked as a "scaler" for a pulp company, a single most important influence on his later carvings.

As a scaler, he learned to measure trees so accurately that sight measurement of the sizes and weights of most objects became a learned skill he utilized in his carvings. In his young life, between the ages of 24 and 30, he held an easy job as a fireman keeping up steam in a local shop. He refers back to that work as his "rocking chair job." Since he was not tired from his day's work, he went fishing right after supper most evenings. At that time he owned a sidecar motorcycle, he recalls, and fished every brook he could find for trout. Fishing thus became an avid pleasure, and he chose to live near water all of his life.

He has fished in almost every lake, pond, and brook in Maine as well as in the Atlantic; and from fish caught in those bodies of water, he has carved mostly striped bass, large and small mouth bass, bluefish, muskie, white perch, yellow perch, pickerel, pike, progies, salmon, brown trout, lake trout, rainbow trout, and red-spotted trout. He felt that trout was his favorite fish to catch for food, but that salmon was more fun to catch becuase of its fighting zeal. He has developed a theory that the quality of the water has an influence on the coloration of fish. Thus, the clear water of Lake Auburn produced a light colored fish, while dirtier lakes produced darker fish of the same species. To substantiate his theory, he was able to identify similar fish carvings by their coloration as to the body of water in which they were caught.

His first fish was carved hear the age of 40 (during the depresssion years of the early 1930s). He enjoyed the experience, and a few friends encouraged him to make more. From that point on, he carved, painted, sold and gave away his art work.

Sirois has not only carved fish, but also other wildlife as he branched out into making sculptural wooden impressions of a number of animals and birds. He once shot a large horned owl then proceeded to create a life-sized facscimile of the nocturnal fellow in wood. As a final, peculiar individual touch, he attached the dead owl's feet onto the carved owl. The carving then became a more vivid reminder of the live owl. His intricately painted feathering technique on the owl is similar in approach to the many painted scales on his fish carvings.

During a visit to his home, a life-sized flying wooden mallard drake was found suspended from the kitchen ceiling. Carefully balanced, it turned with each movement of air. While the painting on the drake is well done with many shades and tones of color, it is not as busily articulated as his fish or owl. Perhaps this is because the mallard was carved from memory rather than first-hand reference. As with the owl, the carved legs and feet of the mallard are an intriguing focal point, as they lie tucked tightly against his belly in an in-flight position.

In Sirois' small workshop sit a few small carved eagles, birds, a white weasel and a jumping dog that are among other carvings he has made over the past years. A spread-legged "female" frog with painted tack eyes demonstrates his ability to simplify form while incorporating charm, humor and a spirit into his work. A walking pheasant is extremely well executed both in its carving and its carving and its detailed painting; while a pair of flying partridges, hanging in his home, again illustrate his personal flair--one with real feet attached and one having wooden feet. He has always fashioned his own fishing plugs; and also has produced a series of primitive oil paintings, some depicting the coastline while others show the Maine woods, lakes, and fishing scenes.

Somewhere in between the aesthetic style of his oil paintings and his carvings are his dioramas. He has created a limited number of them with one of the best being a carved jumping bass with carved and painted long-stemmed underwater flowers juxtaposed in front of a background designed using both collage and paint The "river bed" in that scene includes a real clam shell affixed to the bottom. Another intriguing diorama contains a covered bridge spanning a river with a carved fisherman and a number of tiny carved fish lying on the bank. There is a third with two small herring gulls, and a fourth depicting a fast-swimming pike chasing a lure with surrealistically painted underwater plants, and real driftwood attached to the "lake bottom."

Phillippe Sirois has successfully intermingled his intimate life-long loves of nature and fishing into an art form which will "speak to" sportsmen and naturalists the world over for as long as his now-documented work endures. It is an honest portrayal of his life's direction, and represents best the artistic qualities possible given knowledge. His special knowledge was received informally over a lifetime of looking, learning, and most importantly--application.