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LOT 014

AUTO CAS OC QMG RCA SCA
1923 - 2002
Canadian

Sans titre
ink and watercolour on paper
signed and dated 1947 and on verso inscribed variously
9 7/8 x 12 1/2 in, 25.1 x 31.8 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $31,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Private Collection

LITERATURE
Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume 1, 1939 - 1953, 1999, reproduced page 155, listed page 413, catalogue #1947.057P.1947
Guy Cogeval and Stéphane Aquin, editors, Riopelle, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2006, essay by Serge Guilbaut, page 23
Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 78


In the early 1940s, Jean Paul Riopelle studied with Paul-Émile Borduas during an exciting period in the Montreal art scene. For Riopelle and his mentor Borduas, Surrealism – particularly its experiments in automatism - was a catalyst for freedom. Serge Guilbaut notes, “Automatism in Quebec broke the chains and defied the laws that the petit-bourgeois power structure had established to smother it. And of all those who were swept away by this liberatory current, few demonstrated the same intelligence as Riopelle in confronting the Parisian art scene.” In 1946 and 1947 Riopelle produced a group of abstract ink and watercolour works, which Roald Nasgaard described as “scintillatingly fresh and original. They are constructed in the figure-ground way of Borduas, starting with a dappled watercolour-washed ground of bright colours that is then overlaid with a network of fine ink lines.” Sans titre is intuitive and full of movement, as though it burst from Riopelle’s unconscious, yet completely sure in its adept handling of form and space.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.