Spaightwood Galleries

Riopelle (b. 1923), "the leading Canadian abstract painter of his generation," participated in the last International Surrealist Exhibition and was involved with the Lyrical Abstract group of painters (Pierre Soulages, Hans Hartung, Sege Poliakoff, Maurice Esteve, Notman Bluhm, Joan Mitchell, and Sam Francis). According to his biography in The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art, he was encouraged by André Breton and Joan Miró in the late forties. He and Joan Mitchell lived together in Paris during the fifties and sixties and their work during this period shows their mutual influence upon each other. He was awarded the UNESCO Prize at the 1962 Venice Biennale. He was represented in New York by the Pierre Matisse Gallery and in Paris by Galerie Maeght, the two most important art galleries in the world from the forties to the seventies, and at least one of his paintings has sold at auction for over one million dollars. Riopelle has had major retrospectives at the Venice Biennale (1962), the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Musée du Québec in Montréal, and museums in Bâle, Caen, Caracas, Charleroi, Cologne, Hanover, Helsinki, Krefeld, Mexico City, Nancy, Rouen, St. Etienne, St. Paul de Vence, Toronto, and Wuppertal. His most recent gallery show, "Jean-Paul Riopelle: Oils and Works on Paper 1946-1970," took place during March and April 2000 at Gimpels Fils in London. A projected 6-volume catalogue raisonné of his paintings and works on paper is currently underway; so far, only volume one has appeared in print: Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle: Catalogue RaisonnÈ 1939-1953. Tome 1. (Montreal: Hibou Editeurs, 1999).

Selected Bibliography: Charles F. Comfort, ed.  Jean-Paul Riopelle: Paintings and Sculpture (Venice: XXXI International Biennial of Art, 1962); Michel Martin, ed. Jean-Paul Riopelle, Peinture 1946-1977 (Paris/ Grenoble: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1981; essays by Georges Duthuit, André Breton, Patrick Waldberg, Werner Schmalenbach, Guy Viau, Jacques Dupin, Pierre Boudreau, Franco Russoli, Paul Auster et Thomas B. Hess for retrospectives at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris and the Musée du Québec); National Gallery of Canada, Jean-Paul Riopelle: Painting and Sculpture/ Peinture et Sculpture (Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1962); 36.  Yseult Riopelle,   Jean-Paul Riopelle: Catalogue Raisonné 1939- 1953 Vol. 1 (Italy: Hibou Editeurs, 1999); René Viau, Jean-Paul Riopelle, la traversée du paysage Canada: Leméac, 2002).

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Seoul 1988. Original color lithograph, 1988. 300 signed and numbered impressions plus 30 artists proofs. Printed by Galerie Lelong (Paris) for the 1988 Olympic Art Portfolio, which was never published because the publisher went bankrupt. Although we had 26 impressions of this print, they are all sold out. Image size: 737x560mm. Special Price: SOLD

Jean-Paul Riopelle, Feuilles III. Original color lithograph, 1967. 75 signed and numbered impressions on Lana paper of which this is n. 73/75. A very gestural piece published by Galerie Maeght (Paris). Small handling crease in lower right corner. Image size: 720x1050mm. Price: SOLD.

Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.

To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (1-508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to spaightwood@gmail.com. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.

We are located at 120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568 in the former Unitarian Church (built 1873). For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.

Visiting hours: flexible. Call for availability. Browsers and guests are welcome.

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