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LOT DETAILS
         
         
         

This session is closed for bidding.
Current bid: $17,000 CAD
Bidding History
Paddle # Date Amount

18045 28-May-2020 06:11:22 PM $17,000

26168 28-May-2020 06:10:05 PM $16,000

18045 28-May-2020 06:06:17 PM $15,000

26168 28-May-2020 05:46:58 PM $14,000

12312 28-May-2020 05:43:53 PM $13,000

14821 28-May-2020 05:30:53 PM $12,000 AutoBid

18045 26-May-2020 05:30:35 PM $11,000

15567 19-May-2020 10:55:56 AM $10,000

325307 13-May-2020 08:55:04 PM $9,500

15567 08-May-2020 06:55:41 PM $9,000

The bidding history list updated on: Friday, March 29, 2024 11:41:49

LOT 517

AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 - 2002
Canadian

Sans titre
mixed media on paper, circa 1986
signed and inscribed indistinctly "Né en 1909"
26 x 20 in, 66 x 50.8 cm

Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 CAD

Sold for: $21,250

Preview at:

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson circa 1987 by the present Private Collection, Montreal

LITERATURE
This work will be included in Yseult Riopelle's forthcoming Volume 7 of the catalogue raisonné on the artist's work


This enigmatic painting is an exemplary work from Jean Paul Riopelle’s later production, likely executed around 1986, when he was living in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, Quebec. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Riopelle’s style began yet another major shift toward something wholly original. Like so many great artists, Riopelle is recognized for his propensity to reinvent his approach to painting many times over. Setting this work next to a Riopelle from any previous decade accentuates the breadth of his accomplishments. One might expect that a painter of Riopelle’s experience – after several decades and hundreds of significant canvases to his name – would be hard-pressed to find a new means of expression, and yet here we see a mature and compelling sensibility miles away from the impasto of the 1950s and 1960s.

In Sans titre, we encounter many of the familiar themes that we know from his oeuvre, beginning with the palpable tension between the figurative and the abstract. Riopelle almost paradoxically rejected the notion of abstraction, and yet, he rarely presents an explicitly literal depiction of the subject he has in mind. Here, as suggested by the inscription “Né en 1909,” the subject might be a person – so are we looking at a portrait? And if so, this painting seems to defy that visual possibility. Perhaps the central form might have bird-like qualities? It is certainly another familiar theme from this time, such as his series on white geese. Whatever “form” there may be, is described using layers of paint in red, black and grey on white with an almost calligraphic touch, surrounded and supported by a patchwork of dots that maintain a sense of vibration throughout. The elusive “subject” appears to dissolve into the white, diffusing the tension. This circle of possible interpretations gives us pause, allowing for the time required to take in the dynamic effects Riopelle plays with.

This work was acquired directly from the artist in 1987, shortly after its creation, and comes to market having never changed hands since that time.


All prices are in Canadian Dollars


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