RIOPELLE The Call of Northern Landscapes and Indigenous Cultures * until May 2nd 2021 @ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

 RIOPELLE The Call of Northern Landscapes and Indigenous Cultures

Basil Zarov (1905 (?)-1998), Jean Paul Riopelle outside of the Studio at Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson with “La Défaite” in the

 Distance, about 1976, black and white photograph. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa. © Estate of Jean Paul Riopelle / SOCAN (2020).

 Photo © Library and Archives Canada. Reproduced with the permission of Library and Archives Canada/Basil Zarov fonds/e011205146

 

FRANÇAIS app de traduction à gauche 

The new director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Stéphane Aquin, and the new director of conversation, Mary Daley Desmarrais, hosted the virtual press conference to present the monumental new exhibition of the works of world renowned Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle. Also present were the guest curators Andréanne Roy and Yseult Riopelle, daughter of the artist and curator of Quebec and Canadian art Jacques Des Rochers. 

This exhibition explores the the art and philosophies of the artist. His work is revealed in the context of the vast culture he acquired by working in the effervescent after World War II Paris with, among others, the surrealists with whom he exhibits his work in l’Exposition internationale du surréalisme in 1947.

Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002), Point de rencontre – Quintette

(polyptych), 1963, oil on canvas, 428 x 564 cm (5 panels). Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris. Inv.

 FNAC 90069. © Estate of Jean Paul Riopelle / SOCAN (2020). Photo CNAP

Although we only caught a virtual glimpse of the exhibition we could tell it is quite impressive. What I found intriguing is that there are works in many mediums like silver tip ink drawings, prints, sculptures where his travels into Quebec aboriginal territories fuse with the intellectual musings of surrealist writers, painters and philosophers of Europe where he worked. 

There is also an important selection of Canadian Aboriginal artists like Duane Linklater whom I met 2013 when he won the Sobey Art  Award. 

There is an exquisite catalog that accompanies the exhibition where you can explore the depths of the artist's processes.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and health restrictions the Museum will be closed until January 11 2021. So the Museum will offer a FREE virtual tour of the exhibition starting December 1st until January 11th 2021.  VIRTUAL TOUR

-LENA GHIO   

Beau Dick (1955-2017), Weather Spirit, n.d., wood, leather, twigs, paint, 106 x 91.4 x 60. cm. 

Collection of David Allison and Chris Nicholson, Vancouver. © Estate of Beau Dick.