Sold for: $46,800

PROVENANCE
A gift from the Artist in Paris in the 1950s to Belle Burke, New York

LITERATURE
Roald Nasgaard and Ray Ellenwood, The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941 - 1960, 2009, page 61

Jean-Paul Riopelle’s watercolour and ink abstractions often have, by way of the translucence of the watercolour and the opaqueness of the ink, an innately balanced depth of field. In Sans titre, push and pull, solid and soft contrast in a very pleasing way. Further, in the case of this dancing, musical work, Riopelle’s choice of colours, which are primary and secondary colours in various levels of saturation, provide additional visual balance and a sense of harmony. Roald Nasgaard states that Riopelle “neither started with nature, nor was he an abstract painter in any absolute sense.” The framework within which he painted, his structures and grids, the lines of ink and fine splatters of colours, work together to suggest to us rather than tell us, to hint at something rather than state it. These charged, vibrant works from the 1950s, when he was producing paintings at a frenetic pace in Paris, speak of the creative ferment of the time and the place. There is a certain joy in this work, a sense of excitement, stimulus and energy.

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

All prices are in Canadian Dollars