Art from the Voyageur Age

By James LaForest

Images of the common man and woman from the era of New France are relatively difficult to come by. Late 18th and 19th century artists helped to fill that void. Although New France had by then ceased to exist, the French presence in North America continued on. As the fur trade waned, the vibrant culture it created might have lapsed into obscurity were it not for a few chroniclers and artists who recorded the last days of the truly wild French river world.

One such person was the British artist Frances Anne Hopkins, who experienced voyageur life first hand as she accompanied her husband, a merchant representative, on canoe journeys through the Upper Country. Now, after years of research and writing, the first biography of this unique 19th century female artist has been published.

Frances Anne Hopkins: Hudson’s Bay Conpany Wife, Voyagueur’s Artist by MaryEllen Weller-Smith, 2022, is now available from Jackpine Books. This long-awaited book is the first full-length biography of a remarkable artist whose works are among the most well known and loved, depicting the Voyageur world.

Readers of this blog will remember the two excellent articles by Weller-Smith on this blog, including Fur Trade Canoes and London Society and European Travelers in the Voyageur’s Canoe. These articles have consistently been the most popular articles on Voyageur Heritage, attracting thousands of readers. They are excellent examples of Weller-Smith’s writing and research.

My congratulations to MaryEllen on the publication of her work and I look forward to adding this book to MY Voyageur history collection and I hope that you do as well.