Jean-Paul Riopelle

Jean-Paul Riopelle is a Canadian painter and sculptor renowned for his abstract painting style, notably his "mosaic" works from the 1950s. During this period, he famously eschewed the traditional paintbrush, opting for a palette knife to apply paint to canvas. This technique gave his works a distinctive sculptural quality that became a hallmark of his art.

Biography of Jean-Paul Riopelle

Jean-Paul Riopelle is born in Montréal on October 7, 1923, to Anna and Léopold Riopelle. Around 1936, he began drawing and painting lessons with Henri Bisson, a professor at Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague school. Through his father, he meets Archibald Belaney, also known as Grey Owl, who sparks Riopelle's interest in nature, wildlife, and the environment.

In 1942, Riopelle started his studies at École Polytechnique de Montréal after a preparatory year. He continues drawing during evenings and Sundays, focusing on nature. He also takes correspondence courses in architecture and shows interest in perspective, alongside pursuing photography.

In 1943, Riopelle attended classes at the École des Beaux-Arts and enrolled at the École du Meuble. There, he met Professor Paul-Émile Borduas, with whom he created his first abstract paintings. Collaborating with schoolmates in a Montréal shed, they formed the group later known as Les Automatistes, including Marcel Barbeau, Pierre and Claude Gauvreau, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Fernand Leduc, Marcelle Ferron, and Françoise Sullivan. Riopelle also visited painters, later citing Ozias Leduc as a significant influence, recalling Leduc's meticulous approach to painting natural subjects.

In 1946, Riopelle joined the first exhibition by Les Automatistes. That same year, he embarked on his first voyage to France, followed by a trip to New York, where he frequented engraver William Hayter's studio. Riopelle began experimenting with engraving himself. Despite his travels, he managed to create an impressive number of artworks that year — over a hundred pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors. During a brief visit to Montréal in 1946, he married Françoise Lespérance, and together they returned to Paris to reside.

In 1947, Riopelle's work was featured in an exhibition by Les Automatistes at Galerie du Luxembourg, organized with poet Gérard Jarlot and Fernand Leduc. He met esteemed art dealer Pierre Loeb, who would later play a crucial role in Riopelle's career. Becoming friends with art critic Georges Duthuit, he also encountered Nina Dausset, who managed Galerie La Dragonne, a hub for Surrealists. In June 1947, he signed the text "Rupture inaugurale" in solidarity with André Breton and the Surrealists.

Spending the year in Montréal and Saint-Hilaire, Riopelle signed the Refus global manifesto on August 9, alongside luminaries like Paul-Émile Borduas, Fernand Leduc, Muriel Guilbault, Madeleine Arbour, Marcel Barbeau, Thérèse Renaud, Louise Renaud, Marcelle Ferron, Bruno Cormier, Françoise Sullivan, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Maurice Perron, Pierre Gauvreau, Claude Gauvreau, and Françoise Riopelle. This influential work challenged Québec's traditional and religious values, leaving a lasting impact on the province's history. In December, Riopelle and his family returned to Paris, where he regularly participated in art fairs, notably the Salon de Mai. His first solo exhibition opened in 1949 at Galerie La Dragonne in Paris. 

In 1951, Riopelle took part in the Véhémences confrontées exhibition organized by Michel Tapié at Galerie La Dragonne, alongside artists like Camille Bryen, Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, and Jackson Pollock. By 1952, Riopelle set up a studio on Durantin Street in Montmartre, provided by Henri Fara. 

Winds of change began to sweep through Riopelle's artistic journey as he joined Galerie Pierre Loeb in Paris, followed by the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. His participation in the Younger European Painters exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York garnered attention from critics.

Starting in 1954, Riopelle exhibited regularly at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. He represented Canada at the Venice Biennale alongside Paul-Émile Borduas and B.C. Binning.

In 1955, Riopelle moved into his studio in Vanves. He participated in the Sao Paulo Biennale, traveled to the United States, and formed a friendship with Franz Kline, whose work he greatly admired. During this time, he met Joan Mitchell, a young American painter who would later become his companion.

As the late fifties approached, Riopelle met Jacques Delahaye, whom he regarded as a "great sculptor," and eventually took over Delahaye's foundry with sculptor Roseline Granet. In 1960 the artist spent over a year in East Hampton, United States, renting a studio where he worked on various projects, including a sculpture made of chess pieces. Always seeking innovation, Riopelle explored a wide array of techniques and materials.

The year 1961 saw the Toronto International Airport commissioning Riopelle for his largest oil on canvas to date (4.26 m x 5.49 m), "Point de rencontre," which he completed in just one night in 1963 and unveiled in 1964. In 1962, Riopelle received one of the three Unesco prizes at the Venice Biennale. 

In 1967, Riopelle embarked on a significant series of collages, utilizing his lithographic essays. That year, the Musée du Québec (now Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec), under the directorship of Guy Viau, hosted a retrospective of Riopelle's work. This exhibition marked the first major showcase of his art in the province of Québec.

In 1989, following an extended stay at a rehabilitation clinic after an accident, Riopelle created nearly 400 works until his definitive return to the province of Québec by the end of the year. During that time, the Canadian government marked the bicentenary of the French Revolution by presenting France with Riopelle's painting "Point de Rencontre" (1963). This artwork was later installed at Opéra de Bastille in Paris.

In the autumn of 1992, upon learning of the passing of Joan Mitchell, his companion for over twenty-five years, Riopelle created the monumental fresco "L'Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg" in her memory. 

From 1994 onward, the artist split his time between Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson and L'Isle-aux-Grues, where he acquired a new property, MacPherson Manor, situated at the tip of the island. Jean-Paul Riopelle passed away on March 12, 2002, at his residence in L'Isle-aux-Grues. 

Jean-Paul Riopelle's Art Style

Jean-Paul Riopelle's artistic journey began in the early 1940s when he joined the group known as Les Automatistes. This group challenged traditional artistic norms and embraced automatism, allowing the subconscious to guide their creations. In parallel with Lyrical Abstract painters in France, the Automatistes preferred a fluid and painterly technique, contrasting with the more restrained, hard-edge abstraction that was highly popular in the United States.

During the early 1950s, Riopelle's style undergoes significant development. He delves into various techniques and media: painting with brushes, sculptural impasto, sprayed lines of paint, and using palette knives. Toward the end of 1952, he developed his signature "mosaic" style, characterized by sparsely distributed small touches. In 1953, Riopelle's fascination with mosaics led him to create over sixty artworks.

From 1964 to 1965, Riopelle returns to representation in his art. He sketches the Pyrénées and captures the view from his hotel room in Superbagnières, located in the southwest of France.

In 1968, Riopelle began sculpting, focusing on many pieces with animal motifs, some of which would later become part of the fountain sculpture "La Joute." In 1970, a plaster cast of "La Joute" was exhibited for the first time at Fondation Maeght, incorporating various elements that synthesize a range of past and future themes: animal motifs, string games, masks, and more.

1971 marked the beginning of Riopelle's "Jeux de ficelles" series — acrylic paintings inspired by Inuit string games — created in his Val Fleury studio in Meudon. Inspired by a journey to the Arctic in 1973, Riopelle produced a series of works on paper titled "Les Rois de Thulé." 

After another Arctic journey in 1977, Riopelle began work on his black and white "Icebergs" series in Sainte-Marguerite, completing it in his studio in Saint-Cyr-en-Arthies, France. In 1979, at the Fondation Maeght studios in France, he collaborated with ceramist Hans Spinner on the creation of 61 elements forming a grand ceramic wall — composed of porcelain, earthenware, and rope — which he finished in 1981. Much like "La Joute," this collection of works serves as a synthesis of Riopelle's past and future artistic endeavors.

During the 1980s, Riopelle focused on producing a significant number of works centered on wild geese, a theme he began exploring in 1976 and continued until his final works in 1992. From 1984 to 1985, Riopelle, who had been experimenting with ceramic techniques for many years, collaborated with Hans Spinner in Opio, France, to create a series of enameled lava works, later exhibited at Château-Musée de Vallauris.