Riopelle, Jean-Paul, painter, sculptor and engraver (Montreal, October 7, 1923 - Ile-aux-Grues, Que., March 12, 2002). It was formed from two completely different masters: Henri Bisson, academic painter who even Impressionism was a little exaggerated, and Paul-Émile BORDUAS who wanted to the forefront of avant-garde and surrealism. This will eventually prevail and Riopelle will join the group AUTOMATISTES, exhibiting with them in Montreal in 1946 and 1947, and sign the manifest refusal GLOBAL in 1948.

But already the heart of Gray is in Paris, where he finally settled. There he found his way, what he calls the random controlled. He briefly joined the Surrealists in Paris. It is the only Canadian to exhibit with them in 1947. But it was ultimately more affinity with the group called lyrical abstraction.

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"Riopelle Collage 1999"

The 50s are those of its consecration in Paris (the critic George Duthuit interested in his work) and America (Sao Paulo Biennale in 1951 and 1955, Younger European Painters at the Guggenheim in 1953 International Exhibition in Pittsburgh in 1958 and 1961). It is also the period of his "large mosaics, paintings with a spatula, made of colorful elements juxtaposed in such a way that they recall a landscape seen from the air.

With the 60s, Riopelle diversify its means of expression, affecting as much ink on paper, watercolor, lithography, collage than oil. His painting also takes more risks, as if trying to shake off its past successes to explore new avenues. The pictures become more chaotic and more subjects, Riopelle asking the subject to the issue of form, shape. The big picture Meeting Point, 1963, he intended to Toronto Airport and is now at the Opera Bastille in Paris, is the masterpiece of this period. From 1969, Riopelle made several sculptures including the fountain at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, called the contest in honor sports heroes of his childhood hockey players. In painting, he embarked on a series of Owls, and at the same time have a passion for Inuit string games.

In 1972, following the death of his mother, he returned to Quebec and landscape studio at Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson in the Laurentians. A trip to the North reveals landscapes black and white unsuspected. The resulting series of Icebergs. For 80 years, we often speak of a "return to figuration" at Riopelle, but one could say that it has never really away. He continues his series on the white geese, migratory large as him. At the same time, he abandoned traditional methods of paint for their preferred aerosol and often carries negative impressions, ie d. it projects its color to an object that then withdrew in order to preserve not only the negative form on the web. The Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg, 1992, now installed at the Museum of Quebec, the culmination of this period and is considered the artistic legacy of Riopelle. It is also a tribute to the love, the American artist Joan Mitchell, who was his companion for 25 years. Riopelle lived in Quebec his later years, her workshops are located at Esterel and Isle-aux-geese in the St. Lawrence above Quebec.

Author François-Marc Gagnon