Sold for: $128,700

PROVENANCE
Galerie Jacques Dubourg, Paris
Gallery Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd., London, England
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Florida

In 1951 Jean-Paul Riopelle saw the paintings of Claude Monet in Paris. He was impressed above all by Monet’s use of a single depth of field. There was, in many of Monet’s works, no foreground, middle ground or distance - all was instead presented on a single, level plane. Riopelle’s interest in depth of field, or, more accurately, his complete reassessment of its painterly usefulness and subsequent disregard for any hitherto-followed rules about it, is of paramount consideration in his works. Like Monet, his interests are instead in conveying things through the paint itself, not the forms that the brush-strokes (or knife-strokes) take. In 1958 Riopelle was exploring other concepts within a singular plane of depth. There is structure, here and there, a framing of sorts through colour - red in this case - and allegorical references made through his titles, such as here with St. Nicolas, and these can be used to track and discuss his works. But overall, Riopelle’s ability to make paint sing when applied without reference to subject and title sets him apart.

This work is included as an addendum in Yseult Riopelle's online catalogue raisonné on the artist's work at http://www.riopelle.ca, catalogue #1958.54H.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars