Riopelle: Crossroads in Time is a retrospective exhibition covering 50 years of the artist’s career. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada to mark the centenary celebration of his birth, the exhibition features approximately 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and collages. It is the largest exhibit of the artist’s works ever presented in Vancouver by The Audain Foundation with support from The Heffel Foundation.
The artworks are drawn from 20 private and public collections, including two from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection. The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by art historian and independent researcher Sylvie Lacerte. Associate Curator Siobhan McCracken Nixon coordinates the Vancouver presentation.
According to the art gallery website, “this spectacular exhibition offers an original take on Riopelle’s creative output, highlighting his thirst for freedom of expression, his yearning for innovation and his experimental approach to art making. This is the last opportunity to see the exhibition on its centenary tour.”
The exhibition runs from March 21 to September 1. Tickets can be purchased at the gallery or booked online here.
Jean-Paul Riopelle was a French-Canadian painter, engraver, and sculptor. He was born in Montreal on October 7, 1923, and died in Saint-Antoine-de-L’isle-aux-Grues on March 12, 2002.
He began painting as a child, studying with Montreal artist Henri Bisson for approximately 10 years. Later he studied architecture at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal from1939 to 1940, and art at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and the École du meuble de Montréal in the 1940s.
Riopelle also became a member of the Montreal-based Les Automatistes artistic movement, which was founded in the 1940s by painter Paul-Emile Borduas. Using the automatism method, the artist allows their unconscious mind to influence their drawing as their hand moves randomly across the paper. Artists who practised automatic drawing included Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, and Andre Breton.
During his career, he experimented with techniques including paint projections, pastels, lithography, collage, printmaking and ceramics. Riopelle also used the all-over technique, eliminating perspective by inserting paint chips in multiple layers. American artist Jackson Pollock also used this technique. Later, he did stencil painting with spray cans, a method also used by British artist Banksy.
Several expeditions to Nunavik and Nunavut influenced his work in the 1970s. Other themes in his work include snow geese and owls.
His largest work, Point de Rencontre was a commission for the Toronto Pearson International Airport. The Canadian government offered it to France in 1989 and is now displayed at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. Other major works include his Iceberg series of black and white paintings. In 1976, his fountain sculpture La Joute was installed at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
One of his most ambitious works is Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, a series of thirty paintings created in memory of his companion Joan Mitchell.
Internationally, he participated in the Salon de Mai in Paris in 1947, and his first solo show in 1949 at the Nina Dausset gallery. He often exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York and the Galerie Maeght in Paris. Riopelle also represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1954 and 1962, and at the São Paulo Biennale in 1963. A major exhibition organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was presented in 2006 in Saint Petersburg at the Hermitage Museum.
Nationally, a major retrospective was presented at the National Gallery of Canada in 1963, and at the Musée du Québec in 1967. Other Canadian exhibits include two at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1991 and 2002.
His work is currently displayed in over 60 cities worldwide, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Center Pompidou in Paris, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. The Musée National des Beaux-arts du Quebec houses the world’s largest public collection, with 447 of his works. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts owns 370 of the artist’s works, including 27 paintings.
In addition to his artworks, his legacy lives on through the Jean-Paul Riopelle Foundation.
In October 2019, his foundation was created. Its goal is to promote his work and the work of younger visual artists in Canada and internationally. According to the website. “The creation of the Foundation was inspired by Jean Paul Riopelle’s dream to communicate his passion for art, his vision and to inspire the next generation of visual artists to explore, innovate and surpass their creative potential.” For more information, check out the website.
