| Description |
Canadian AUTO, CAS, QMG, RCA [1923-2002]
UNTITLED COMPOSITION; 1958
oil on paper laid on canvas
20 x 25.75 in. (50.8 x 65.4 cm)
Provenance: Roberts Gallery, Toronto, ON; Masters Gallery, AB (labels verso)
Reference: Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 1954 - 1959 (Yseult Riopelle, 2004); catalogue #1954.040PV.1958; reproduced page 399
Jean-Paul Riopelle is probably Canada's most accomplished artist in terms of international recognition and financial success. Born in Montreal, he received formal art instruction throughout his adolescence, much of it traditional and focused on copying the works of old masters. Riopelle moved on to the Ecole Polytechnique (where he studied architecture, engineering and photography) and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. Then, seeking a less academic and constraining environment , he transferred to the more forward-thinking Ecole de Meuble, where he studied under Paul-Emile Borduas. It was with the encouragement of Borduas that he produced his first non-representational painting. He then joined Borduas and the Automatistes and signed the Refus manifesto.
At this point, Riopelle quickly took his own path, making several trips to France, Germany and New York in 1946/1947, finally settling in Paris the following year. Riopelle soon exhibited with the Surrealists, the only Canadian to do so. The growing reputation of the "wild Canadian" gained Riopelle his first solo exhibition in 1949. Riopelle's career soon erupted, and he would go on to receive continued acclaim. Riopelle was the epitome of the bohemian artist, travelling in avant-garde circles and living hard. He painted prolifically and exhibited continually, and on an international scale.
Riopelle is best known for his vibrant use of colour and heavy impasto, often applying paint with a palette knife or trowel, particularly during his mature mosaic period of the 1950s. Often referred to as abstract, Riopelle rejected this term, calling it a "schématisation abusive". Art critics and curators dubbed him a pioneer "action painter". His work is now represented in many major international museums. In 1963, the National Gallery of Canada held a major retrospective and travelling exhibition of Riopelle’ s work - he was the youngest artist to receive this honour. Riopelle earned many honours and awards during his life. He represented Canada in the Venice Biennale (1954) and in 1962 the Canadian pavilion in Venice was given entirely to Riopelle's work. Just a few additional honours include the Prix International Guggenheim Award (1958), the Unesco prize (1962), the Philippe Hébert Prize (1973), the Order of Canada (1975), and the Paul-Emile Borduas Award (1981).
Riopelle visited Quebec periodically during his years away, occasionally coming home in the fall to hunt and paint. He gradually increased his travels back to Quebec and began exhibiting more in Canada. In 1972, he returned to Quebec, building a studio-residence overlooking a Laurentian lake in Ste-Marguerite, and divided his time between Canada and France, eventually moving back permanently. Riopelle lived half his life in Paris, but those that knew him best say he spent his final years where he was happiest: living quietly and enjoying nature on Isle-aux-Gruese.
Despite their non-representational nature, many of Riopelle's works, such as this canvas, are evocative of a landscape. This "suggestion of a landscape" was observed by Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell during a New York exhibition of Riopelle's work at Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1955. ("The American Matisse, The Dealer, His Artists, his Collection"; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009). They were unsettled by the questions that arose: "what kind of landscape...where it came from". Riopelle spoke in 1977 about his process of constructing all his canvases as landscapes, albeit inner ones. This connotation of landscape increased in the 1960s. Certainly later in his life, when he returned to Canada, nature became more prominent and obvious in his work. Whether the suggestion of landscape in this piece was conscious or unconscious, and the source of that influence will be for the viewer to ponder.
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