Jean-Paul Riopelle (Canadian, 1923-2002) Poster project. 196 - Lot 178

Jean-Paul Riopelle (Canadian, 1923-2002) Poster project. 1967. Lithograph. Sight: 600 x 900 mm. Riopelle not described. Printed in color. Very fine trial proof on white vellum, composed of 4 superimposed subjects, the two in the center signed with the monogram and dated in pencil, before erasing the size crosses, with an addition in red pencil on the left (cross indicating the subject retained). Full margins. Provenance: Lilette Berger collection, widow of Sam Szafran (1934-2019), Malakoff. This is a poster project, a study for the lithograph finally produced (Riopelle 1967.01.EST.LI.AFV) for the Musée du Québec, in connection with the explorations the artist was making at the time under the aegis of his dealer Aimé Maeght: "In the aftermath, the artist developed a taste for posters, which played an important role in his new dealer's promotional strategy. But he took a liking to them in his own way, sometimes completely unaware of the specific function of these advertising posters. He doesn't necessarily like to build a poster, but he loves - and knows! - to draw, as evidenced by a silent image that is not yet a poster [...] or another that is no longer one [...] In this case, as had happened with pastel a few years earlier, Riopelle shows that he learns and understands new techniques remarkably quickly, all the more so as, this time again, he works with a master, René Le Moigne, who understands him well himself and with whom he then embarks on a long and beautiful adventure in lithography". (Y. Riopelle, ed. Jean Paul Riopelle, Catalogue raisonné des estampes, Montreal, Hibou ed., 2005, p. 18).