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Fifty years of art: Major Riopelle exhibition opens at National Gallery of Canada

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If your view of the work of Jean-Paul Riopelle is limited to thickly painted abstracts on huge canvases, the new exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada will leave your head spinning with the diversity and imagination of the famous Canadian artist, who died in 2002.

Riopelle: Crossroads in Time is a striking retrospective of the artist’s work, the grande finale in a year of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of his birth on Oct. 7, 1923.  It runs until next spring.

The gallery’s new director, Jean-François Bélisle, is a Canadian art cognoscenti who’s been immersed in Riopelle’s work for months, starting at the beginning of the year when Bélisle was still executive director and chief curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette, which featured a centenary exhibition of 15 works by Riopelle.

By contrast, the number of pieces presented in Crossroads at the National Gallery of Canada — the first major exhibition under Bélisle’s leadership — is almost tenfold, with more than 130 works on view.

“I think that it’s really interesting to close the Riopelle year with an exhibition like this,” Bélisle said in an interview. “I found that a lot of the projects that have happened on Riopelle in the past year were very focused on a specific period, or specific subject or specific technique, but this is like the big coming-together moment where you have access to fifty years’ worth of artmaking.”

The show, which is presented chronologically by decade, takes up several thousand square feet of floor space in the gallery and includes many of those epic abstract paintings. But it also includes Riopelle’s sculptures, prints, collages and figurative drawings — as well as a thoughtful selection of pieces by contemporary artists that help to illustrate Riopelle’s influence, and sometimes provide a counterpoint to his perspective.

The curator of the exhibition is Sylvie Lacerte, a Canadian art historian whose area of expertise is contemporary art. Notably, she was not a Riopelle specialist when she was recruited three years ago as the show’s guest curator. Instead of an expert, the gallery wanted a fresh perspective on the prolific Montreal native.

What she found during her research surprised and delighted her, Lacerte said in an interview.

Sylvie Lacerte
Sylvie Lacerte, curator of the Jean-Paul Riopelle exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

“As I discovered Riopelle’s work throughout the 50 years of his practice, I saw things I had never seen myself, and I was just astounded at how contemporary some of these works still look,” she said. “Some of them, like the collages from the 60s, look so fresh. The form, the feeling and everything give you the impression they were done the day before yesterday. That was a big surprise and it got me really excited.”

Riopelle came to attention early in his career as one of the 16 Quebecois artists and intellectuals to issue Le Refus global (Total Refusal) in 1948, an anti-establishment and anti-religious manifesto that called for a new social and artistic movement in the province. In rejecting the academic and religious teachings that limited freedom of expression, the group was inspired by surrealism and its theory of automatism, a stream-of-consciousness approach to art-making.

In his early years, Riopelle liked to work in this fashion, laying out his paints and tools and working day and night until a painting was complete. His 1949 painting, The Green Parrot, which is included in the exhibition, is a great example of the technique, Lacerte said.

Riopelle’s automatiste works evolved into his popular mosaic paintings of the 1950s, which were created, not with brushes, but with a spatula, knife and thick globs of oil paint. One of his most famous paintings of this period is the massive triptych Pavane (Tribute to the Water Lilies), which reveals a sculptural quality in the way the textures capture and reflect light.

Through the 60s and 70s, Riopelle continued to experiment, producing collages created from prints he had made, and casting sculptures in bronze. A series of pieces in the exhibition show his fascination with nature, including his monumental sculptures, The Bear and The Accompanied Owl. In the 80s, he worked with stencils and spray paint, and came up with the goose motif that was a hallmark of that period.

Also included are the black, white and grey paintings from the Iceberg series that illustrate Riopelle’s fascination with the Far North, a region he visited several times in the late 70s. Hung in an all-white room, the effect is like walking directly into an iceberg.

To add to the impact, a sculptural representation of a whale skeleton, made of plastic patio chairs by Vancouver artist Brian Jungen, hangs nearby, while another piece by Caroline Monnet, an artist of Anishinaabe-French heritage who grew up in Gatineau, confronts Riopelle’s romanticized view of the region. Her work, entitled The Future Left Behind, consists of hundreds of squares of air-barrier membrane sewn on fabric, serving as a powerful reminder of the Inuit housing crisis.

Other contemporary artists whose work is featured in Crossroads include Françoise Sullivan – who celebrated her hundredth birthday this year, Roseline Granet, Thomas Corriveau, Patrick Coutu, Manuel Mathieu, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf, Marc Séguin and Aïda Vosoughi.

Riopelle stopped making art in 1992 for health reasons. One of his final pieces was the fresco, Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, a tribute to his long-time partner, the American artist Joan Mitchell, who died of cancer that year. Crossroads includes work by Mitchell, as well as work that Riopelle created in the same style as Rosa, with spray paint and stencils.

“Some people, institutions and collectors, were a bit taken aback because they would have liked him to stay in the comfortable period of his mosaics in the 50s, for which he became internationally known, but he wasn’t like that,” said Lacerte. “It wasn’t his interest if it sold. He really wanted to evolve in his practice. He went from discovery to discovery, and that’s the way he was.”

Riopelle: Crossroads in Time is on view in Ottawa until April 7. Afterwards, it will be at the Winnipeg Art Gallery from June 1 to Sept. 29, 2024.

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

 

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A misspelled memorial to the Brontë sisters gets its dots back at last

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LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.

More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.

The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.

They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.

“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”

It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.

Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”

Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.

“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

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In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone – BBC.com

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone  BBC.com

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