The artist depicted, in watercolour, a campsite consisting of a few tents in Sanmaur on the edge of a dirt road. Located in a forest environment on the west bank of the Saint-Maurice River, this place is very close to the Atikamekw community of Wemotaci.

The name of this place is a contraction of the words Saint and Maurice. First established around 1914 by the company in charge of building a dam on the Saint-Maurice River, the village was taken over by the Brown Corporation in the 1940s.

As for the artiste, Rolande Godin, she was born in December 1911. She was the daughter of Amanda Girard and Hector Godin, a coffin manufacturer. Rolande studied with the Ursulines of Trois-Rivières, then with Don Howchin in Toronto. When the family returned to the Trois-Rivières region, she studied successively with Don Inman, an artist/draftsman and caricaturist from Grand-Mère, Louis Parent, a sculptor from Montreal, and Jean-Marie Bastien from the École du meuble de Montréal. She also graduated from the Famous Artist School in Westport, Connecticut. She obtained a bachelor of arts degree from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

She married François Nobert, a lawyer who was involved for a few years in the administration of the Chambre de commerce de Trois-Rivières, and who was also very committed to the realization of the project to build a bridge between Trois-Rivières and Sainte-Angèle.

Rolande G. Nobert was the sister of Dr. Conrad Godin, Berthe Godin Crête, and Sister Louise Godin of the Ursuline community in Quebec City.

Rolande Godin Nobert died in 2011. She had nearly reached the age of 100.

Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1997 101 D