Riopelle, Jean-Paul

Riopelle, Jean-Paul (1923–2002). Canadian painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. Riopelle is considered the leading Canadian abstract painter of his generation, although he has spent most of his career in Paris. He was born in Montreal, where he had lessons with a local painter, Henri Bisson, from the age of 6. His early works were landscapes, but he turned to abstraction under the influence of Borduas and became a member of his group Les Automatistes in 1946 before settling in Paris in 1947. Breton, Mathieu, and Miró gave him encouragement in his early days there. He had his first one-man show in 1949, at the Galerie Nina Dausset, Paris, and many others followed in the 1950s as he built up an international reputation—he was the first Canadian artist to achieve such widespread recognition since James Wilson Morrice and Homer Watson at the beginning of the century (his New York debut exhibition was at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1954 and his London debut exhibition at the Gimpel Gallery in 1956). His paintings of the late 1940s were in a lyrical manner, but in the 1950s his work became tauter, denser, and more powerful, the paint often applied with a palette knife, creating a rich mosaic-like effect (Pavane, NG, Ottawa, 1954). Later his handling became more calligraphic. Riopelle was a prolific artist and at home in various media; he worked in watercolour, ink, crayon, and chalk, as well as oil, and also produced prints (etchings and lithographs), sculpture, and huge collage murals. In spite of his long residence in France, he kept up a close association with his native country; in 1962 he represented Canada at the Venice Biennale, where he was awarded the Unesco prize, and from 1970 he spent a good deal of time in Montreal.