Sold for: $193,250

PROVENANCE
Galerie Maeght, Paris
Evelyn Aimis Fine Art, Toronto
Sold sale of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie's New York, May 9, 2012, lot 222
Galerie Lacerte, Quebec
Private Collection, Quebec

LITERATURE
Jean-Louis Prat, Gilles Vigneault et al., Jean-Paul Riopelle, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1991, page 34
Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 4, 1966 - 1971, 2014, reproduced page 93, catalogue #1966.030H.1966

EXHIBITED
Palais des beaux-arts de Charleroi, Belgium, Jean Paul Riopelle 1946 - 1970, January 9 - February 7, 1971, catalogue #16
Galerie d'art du Vieux-Palais, Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Parcours à travers l'oeuvre d'artistes des Laurentides, 1985

Sainte Marguerite is an iconic example of Jean Paul Riopelle’s 1960s works, when his strokes became looser and his compositions more spacious. As Herta Wescher wrote, “The dense mosaics characteristic of his paintings of ten years ago have been broken up, allowing space to enter from all sides. Now, order and chaos intermingle, diagonals, curves and sharp hooks attach the verticals, voids are trapped at the heart of incredibly crowded centres.” In a series of centrifugal movements, Riopelle drags his spatula through white, green and grey paint, melding them into each other. The luminous frame-like edges bleed into the tumultuous central composition. Blacks, charcoals, blues, ruby reds and browns are slashed and swept by the artist’s palette knife at the heart of the canvas, creating a push and pull effect towards the borders of the work. Throughout the central “void,” slivers of white paint appear, either applied in thick impastos or revealed under layers of blue or grey. Sainte Marguerite refers to Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, a town in the Laurentians where the artist would later establish his studio upon his return to Canada from France.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars