Jean-Paul Riopelle

Jean-Paul Riopelle

1923 - 2002

Works

Untitled. Iceberg series, 1977

Biography

Montreal (Canada), 1923 – Saint Antonine de l’Isle aux Grues (Canada), 2002

In 1946 he travelled to Paris. His earliest oils were quite automatist, but in 1947 he started to develop a rich, multi-coloured image, painted with a thin, dripping medium. By 1949-50 he was using a thicker medium – usually oil out of the tube – to form smaller jammed shapes, interconnected by strings of paint. During 1952 and 1953 they diminished in number and became integrated with facets of paint applied with the palette-knife that covered the canvas. These paintings drew strong international attention. His artistic development continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Riopelle participated in the large Exposition Internationale su Surréalisme at the Gal. Maeght in 1947. He exhibited frequently in Paris and New York as well as in Toronto and Montreal, and held commercial shows in most European centers. In 1962 he represented Canada at the Venice Biennial. In 1972 the Centre Cultural Canadien and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris joined to present an important exhibition of new paintings and sculpture.