Sold for: $135,700

PROVENANCE
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
The Art Emporium Inc., Seattle, 1989
Private Collection, Vancouver

LITERATURE
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 125, catalogue #1966.069H.1966

EXHIBITED
Gallery Moos Ltd., Toronto, 1971, catalogue #15

In the late 1960s, Jean Paul Riopelle continued to assert himself as one of Canada’s truly international artists. In 1967 he had a major retrospective exhibition at the Musée du Québec, and in 1968 he participated in an exhibition of Canadian art at the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais in Paris. During this decade, Riopelle’s work was evolving and 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 Bordure, Riopelle wielded palette knife and spatula to produce swirls, broad gestures that sweep through several layers of colour, and dark clusters of energy. Contrasting with this almost frenetic slashing and pushing of paint are white areas which push toward the borders, the “void,” which acts as an area of calm. According to Yseult Riopelle, Bordure was painted in 1966 in France. It was then shipped to the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, where Riopelle later signed and dated the work 1967.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars