Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) born in Montreal, was the only Canadian artist involved with the seminal post-World War II School of Paris.
Riopelle was also one of the first Canadian artists to gain major international recognition. A Companion of the Order of Canada and a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, Riopelle represented Canada at the 1962 Venice Biennale, and received a large retrospective at the Musée National d’Art, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1981. The show eventually travelled to Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
His work is featured in museum collections in the National Gallery of Canada, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.
Riopelle employed a tachiste style, which he achieved by applying oil paint in thick, demonstrative strokes with palette knives. He also worked in lithography, gouache, watercolor, ink, and experimented with bronze sculpture.
