Jean-Paul Riopelle

Exhibited by Willoughby Gerrish

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 50 × 65 cm

Status Vetted

About the Work

Riopelle, born in Montreal in 1923, emerged from the circle of the Automatistes before settling in Paris in the late 1940s. There, in dialogue with Surrealism and the evolving language of Art Informel, he developed a distinctive approach that fused spontaneity with structural intelligence. 'Berge (Riverbank)' reflects this synthesis. The surface is built through thick impasto, applied predominantly with palette knife rather than brush. Paint is not merely laid down but pressed, scraped, and tessellated into a mosaic of chromatic fragments.

Painted at the height of Jean Paul Riopelle’s mature period, 'Berge (Riverbank)' embodies the restless energy and chromatic density that define his contribution to postwar abstraction. The title anchors the work in the natural world — the edge of land meeting water — yet Riopelle resists literal description. Instead, the motif becomes a catalyst for painterly construction, a field in which colour, texture, and gesture collide and cohere.

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Provenance

Jacques Dubourg Gallery, Paris
Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
Evelyn Waugh, UK
Gifted to Mr A. D. Peters (Evelyn Waugh's agent)
Gifted to Miss M. Stephens (Mr A. D. Peters' partner)
By descent
Private collection, UK