{{Short description|American artist (1938–2025)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} [[Image:Armand LaMontagne stone ender.jpg|thumb|right|Armand Lamontagne's stone ender farm in Scituate, Rhode Island]] '''Armand Maurice LaMontagne''' (February 3, 1938 – March 7, 2025) was an American sculptor of celebrated personalities.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://archive.org/details/craftinamericace0000geor|url-access = registration|title = Craft in America: Celebrating the Creative Work of the Hand|last = George|first = Phyllis|date = January 1, 1993|publisher = Summit Group|isbn = 9781565300811|language = en}}</ref>
==Background== Armand Maurice LaMontagne was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on February 3, 1938, and was a graduate of Worcester Academy and Boston College.<ref name="death">{{cite news |title=Armand M. LaMontagne |url=https://www.valleybreeze.com/obituaries/armand-m-lamontagne-scituate/article_f2781d00-fc52-11ef-9bc5-639fd8d409f9.html |access-date=March 9, 2025 |publisher=The Valley Breeze |date=March 7, 2025}}</ref><ref name = Williams>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/arts/armand-lamontagne-dead.html|title = Armand LaMontagne, 87, Sculptor Who Turned Wood Into Legends|last = Williams|first = Alex|date = March 30, 2025|accessdate = April 1, 2025|newspaper = The New York Times|page = A32|url-access = limited}}</ref> He was a self-taught artist who has honed his skills through practicing his profession, which he began pursuing after serving in the U.S. Army.<ref name = Williams/> He studied his craft in Florence.<ref name = Williams/>
LaMontagne and his wife, Lorraine (née Robitaille), had a daughter.<ref name = Williams/> A resident of North Scituate, Rhode Island, he died from heart failure at home on March 7, 2025, at the age of 87.<ref name="death"/><ref name = Williams/>
==Body of work== LaMontagne is best recognized for his realistic, life-sized wood and bronze sculptures. Lamontagne long focused on New England sporting legends as subjects of his work, including Ted Williams, Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, Carl Yastrzemski, and Harry Agganis.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1996/01/22/207464/shaping-the-splendid-splinter-and-others-sculptor-armand-lamontagne-turns-famous-figures-into-wooden-wonders|title=SHAPING THE SPLENDID SPLINTER, AND OTHERS SCULPTOR ARMAND LAMONTAGNE TURNS FAMOUS FIGURES INTO WOODEN WONDERS|last=Wisnia|first=Saul|website=Vault|language=en|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref> Writer Saul Wisnia described Lamontagne's wood sculpture in ''Sports Illustrated'': "With hair, clothes and shoes all carved from single 1,800-to-2,500-pound blocks of basswood, LaMontagne's works often leave viewers staring in disbelief at what appears to be real skin, wool and leather. Sometimes amazement gives way to emotion; upon seeing his statue in 1985, the notoriously rough-edged Williams broke down and cried." His works are on permanent display in the collections of The Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York; the New England Sports Museum, Boston, Massachusetts; the Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor, Fort Knox, Kentucky; and the Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield, Massachusetts.
LaMontagne's talents were brought to the national spotlight in the 1970s when he deliberately made a reproduction of a 17th-century turned oak Brewster Chair (an iconic Pilgrim chair) to embarrass the self-proclaimed experts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/pic/2000/00apr.asp |title=The Brewster Chair and the game of "Fool The Experts" |date=April 1, 2000 |publisher=Henry Ford Museum |accessdate=October 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805234134/http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/pic/2000/00apr.asp |archivedate=August 5, 2010 }}</ref> LaMontagne even soaked the chair in salt water to simulate aging. He then gave the chair away, and the Henry Ford Museum eventually purchased it from a dealer for $9,000. The museum was notified of their error when LaMontagne published an admission in the ''Providence Journal''.
In 1973, LaMontagne built a large crucifix for Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Scituate, Rhode Island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saintjosephschurch.net/images/Cross.png |title=Archived copy |website=www.saintjosephschurch.net |access-date=January 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020205833/http://www.saintjosephschurch.net/images/Cross.png |archive-date=October 20, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He also built a replica 17th-century Rhode Island house called a stone ender in Scituate, Rhode Island.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.redwoodlibrary.org/blog/lwhite/2016/08/02/style-stone-ender-house|title=The style of Stone Ender house {{!}} Redwood Library and Athenæum|website=www.redwoodlibrary.org|access-date=February 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Schroeder |first1=Roger |title=Fine Woodworking |date=March–April 1981|pages=56–59|url=http://woodtools.nov.ru/fww_1975-2008/0027.pdf |access-date=March 23, 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060903214625/http://www.internationalsport.com/sa_hof/hof_rihonorees.html#lamontagne Institute for International Sport bio] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061022204514/http://www.chubbcollectors.com/Vacnews/index.jsp?form=2&ArticleId=169 LaMontagne's Brewster Chair Fake]
{{DEFAULTSORT:LaMontagne, Armand}} Category:1938 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American woodcarvers Category:Boston College Category:Worcester Academy alumni Category:People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States Category:20th-century American artists Category:Sculptors from Rhode Island Category:United States Army soldiers
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