Riopelle: In Search of Indigenous Cultures and the Northern Canadian Landscape

This book explores Jean-Paul Riopelle's interest in northern Canada and his works devoted to this theme. It highlights in particular the wonderful series of paintings he made in the 1970s, including both the works themselves and archival materials that delve into this period when Riopelle was especially energetic.

This book, published to accompanythe exhibition of the same title, explores Jean-Paul Riopelle's interestin northern Canada and his works devoted to this theme. It highlightsin particular the wonderful series of paintings he made in the 1970s,including both the works themselves and archival materials that delveinto this period when Riopelle was especially energetic. It was a timewhen he organised a number of trips to the region to fish, hunt, andimmerse himself in nature, seeking the communion that was so dear tohim.

But it was not just the vegetation in northern Canada thatattracted Riopelle; the indigenous peoples he encountered were also asource of great inspiration for him. In combination, these two aspectsof the land filled his imagination and molded his intellectual andartistic perspective.

The reader will become acquainted with hisless well known and unpublished works, and follow Riopelle's artisticdevelopment as he ranged over the frozen landscapes of the far north andthe limitless forests further south, taking stock of the way thenatives adapted to their environment. The book emphasises the fact thatRiopelle's oeuvre deliberately kept its distance from works thatdepicted nature as the defining emblem of the Canadian nation. Rather,the artist was the bearer of a unique personal sensibility that was ableto visually evoke that particular territory in a dialogue betweenreality and imagination.

The more than 100 works included in thebook (paintings, sculptures, prints, and mixed-media works) are part of anarrative consisting of four main sections (Canadian Nordicity asViewed from Paris; The Experience of the North; Borrowing from theNorth; The North and Art), whose themes are examined in essayscontributed by specialists in relevant fields.

Weight: 2006g
Dimension: 251 x 290 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9788874399437