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Dimensions: 38 by 64 in. 96.5 by 162.5 cm.
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Provenance: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above
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Exhibited:
New York, Robert Miller Gallery, Riopelle , March - April 2005
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Literature: Yseult Riopelle, Jean-Paul Riopelle: Catalogue Raisonné Tome 2, 1954-1959, Montreal, 2004, cat. no. 1956.102H., p. 242, illustrated in color
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Notes: Executed in 1956.
Shortly after moving to Paris in 1947, Jean-Paul Riopelle was invited to participate in the last major group show of Surrealist Art, held at Galerie Maeght. At this significant exhibition, he met the young abstract painters of the École de Paris including Nicolas de Staël, Georges Mathieu, Zao Wou-Ki and Maria Elena Vieira. Their influence on Riopelle was immediately evident as the canvases of the young artist from Quebec evolved from melancholic semi-abstractions to stirring compositions of remarkable power. Consequently, by 1949, Riopelle had been offered his first solo exhibition at the left bank gallery of Nina Dausset on the rue du Dragon. The works of this period reached an expressive and physical depth theretofore unprecedented for the artist. Utilizing dollops of paint squeezed directly from the tube, threads trailing along and criss-crossing the surface, Riopelle created an extraordinary dialogue between color, form, thought and texture as evinced in the present work. By the mid 1950's, Riopelle began working on a grander scale and the palette knife began to sculpt the paint into glittering facets resembling precious stones. In Profil d'Orage, 1956, the pictorial space gradually developes with the colors increaslingly concentred in areas outlined by white brushstrokes which he uses to structure, draw and define space. For me, a painting is never the reproduction of an image. It always starts with a vague feeling...the desire to paint... Not a clear idea. The painting starts where it wants...but after, everything falls into place. That's the important thing. The painting must develop by itself. It's a process... I'm not the type to search for the perfect green...For instance, I never tell myself I must paint like this or like that to obtain a particular effect. If I get to that point, I stop. It's dangerous...because it means I'm focusing on the technical aspect. There's always a way to improve a painting that's weak. But I'm not interest in doing that. The work loses its emotional unity. Because, unfortunately, the tecnique will always dominate. - Jean-Paul Riopelle, 1972
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