CANADIAN POST~WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART - Heffel

HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE 49
34 JEAN~PAUL RIOPELLE
OC QMG RCA SCA 1923 ~ 2002
Côte sauvage (D)
oil on canvas, signed and dated 1960
and on verso signed, titled, dated
and inscribed pas a vendre
31 1/2 x 39 in, 80 x 99 cm
PROVENANCE:
Laing Galleries, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
LITERATURE:
G. Blair Laing, Memoirs of an Art Dealer, 1979, page 211
This stunning painting was originally acquired from Jean~Paul Riopelle
by one of Canada’s most famous dealers, G. Blair Laing of Toronto.
Riopelle’s energetic paintings are intertwined with his dynamic life. As
Laing writes in his memoirs, “Riopelle’s energy spilled over into just about
everything he did. He owned a boat and cruised her on the
Mediterranean, liked fast cars, went on hunting expeditions for wild boar,
and loved salmon fishing. At a moment’s notice he would go off to the
airport to catch the first plane to New York, without as much as a hand
bag. He said he could buy anything he needed in New York…his dealer
there, Pierre Matisse (Henri’s son), gave him unlimited credit. Riopelle
knew many of the artists and sculptors of the day, like Zao Wou~Ki and
Alberto Giacometti, but in general he was a lone wolf. Yet at the same time
he was always the generous host, ready to take you to dinner at one of the
many good small restaurants he knew. He and Joan [Mitchell] frequented
the Dome and Coupole, and at both places his stocky frame and tousled
black hair were well~known. I never missed a chance of seeing him on
my trips to Paris, even if it meant an evening of wandering through
Montparnasse bistros to find him.” Côte sauvage (D) displays Riopelle’s
classic palette knife technique, and expresses the passion for life that is
the artist at his best.
This work will be included in Volume III of Yseult Riopelle’s forthcoming
catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work.
ESTIMATE: $150,000 ~ 200,000