Jean-Paul Riopelle @ Vancouver Art Gallery - "Riopelle: Crossroads in Time" Retrospective Exhibition

Riopelle: Crossroads in Time

Vancouver Art Gallery

March 21 - September 1, 2025

The Vancouver Art Gallery presents the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of works by JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE (1923–2002) in Vancouver’s history. A towering figure in Canadian art, Riopelle remains one of the nation's most significant artists of the twentieth century. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada to mark the centenary celebration of the artist's birth, Riopelle: Crossroads in Time brings together almost 100 works drawn from 20 Canadian and international private and public collections, including two paintings from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection. Guest curated by art historian and independent researcher Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, this extensive exhibition offers an original take on Riopelle’s creative output, highlighting his commitment to freedom of expression, his experimental ways of working, and his visionary and innovative approach.

Riopelle: Crossroads in Time is part of the Jean Paul Riopelle Centenary celebrations — a global initiative of the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation that honours the boundless creative spirit and enduring legacy of one of Canada's most iconic artists.

The celebrations were initiated in 2019 by renowned philanthropist and collector Michael Audain, Chair of the Audain Foundation, and past Chair and Cofounder of the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation: “I consider Jean Paul Riopelle to be one of the greatest Canadian artists of all time. Over the past five years, the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation curated an exceptional program to mark the centenary of his birth. Never before has one of our national artists been celebrated this way. We consider this to be our collective duty of memory. And we hope it will inspire others, so we may see our cultural heroes duly acknowledged for their contribution to the history of Canadian and international art. I am grateful to both the National Gallery of Canada and to the Vancouver Art Gallery for bringing this exhibition to British Columbia.” 

Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, reflects on the significance of this presentation and the support that made it possible to bring the exhibition to the West Coast of Canada: “We feel privileged to present Riopelle: Crossroads in Time at the Vancouver Art Gallery as the grande finale of the artist’s centenary celebrations. We are grateful to our presenting sponsor, The Audain Foundation, who made it possible to give Vancouver audiences this incredible opportunity to experience Riopelle’s remarkable work and the new perspectives that the exhibition offers.”

Spanning five decades of Riopelle’s creative journey—bringing together paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and collages—Riopelle: Crossroads in Time recognizes the breadth of Riopelle’s imagination and the diversity of his work and interests. The exhibition is organized chronologically to highlight his far-ranging practice and explosive periods of creativity, from the popular works of his youth, such as Le perroquet vert [The Green Parrot] (1949), to his final works, including Sans titre (Autour de Rosa) [Untitled (Around Rosa)] (1992). Early works from the 1940s mark the development of a spontaneous painting style inspired by his brief time as part of Les Automatistes, an influential group of Québécois artists. By the 1950s, when Riopelle’s work was being shown all over the world, he had arrived at what became his signature “mosaic” style in which he manipulated the paint with a palette knife to create bold shapes and energetic compositions. The exhibition spotlights several stunning canvases from this defining period, including La Roue II [The Wheel II] (1956) and Chicago II (1958).

In the 1960s Jean-Paul Riopelle moved fluidly between sculpture and painting, and the exhibition features several bronze sculptures from this period, as well as paintings and prints created in the 1970s that were inspired by the imagery and atmosphere of the Far North. His final work from the 1980s and 1990s represents a surprising turn with colourful panel paintings peppered with spray paint and glitter. The exhibition will also unravel Riopelle’s creative and cultural connections through the inclusion of a selection of works by his contemporaries, including Sam Francis, Alberto Giacometti, Roseline Granet, Joan Mitchell and Françoise Sullivan, which draw out influences and exchanges that shaped the artist’s life and work over time.

This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Canada as part of the Jean Paul Riopelle Centenary celebrations. The Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, co-founded in 2019 by Canadian philanthropist Michael Audain and Yseult Riopelle, the artist’s daughter, orchestrated a vast program to mark the centenary, leading to national and international celebrations and to the acknowledgment of Jean Paul Riopelle as a Canadian cultural icon. For decades Riopelle’s experimental works have inspired generations of artists in Canada and around the world.

Jean-François Bélisle, Director and CEO, National Gallery of Canada, reflects on the celebrations: "We were honoured to present Riopelle: Crossroads in Time on the occasion of the centennial year of Jean Paul Riopelle's birth. From one of our best-attended openings of 2023 to innovative music and dance events, this major retrospective of works by this legendary Canadian artist was a huge success. I would like to underscore the importance of partnerships between our country's museum institutions to make Canadian art accessible to all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast. Following its opening in the National Capital Region, we were elated to see the show have an outstanding run at the Winnipeg Art Gallery last summer. I would now like to express my gratitude to the Vancouver Art Gallery for hosting the final stop of this exhibition.”

Offering a unique take on Canada’s famed artist, this visually spectacular exhibition presents Riopelle’s renowned works alongside many which have been rarely shown in public. The presentation at the Vancouver Art Gallery also features works by Jean-Paul Riopelle from the Gallery’s permanent collection, including his bold composition Sous le Mythe de Gitskan No. 3 [Under the Myth of Gitskan No. 3] (1956)—which has not been shown for more than a decade—and Figure libre-Parure [Free figure-Adornment] (1967). In preparation for the exhibition, Figure libre-Parure [Free figure-Adornment] has undergone extensive conservation treatment. Delicate consolidation, infilling and inpainting took place to resolve areas of unstable cracking and lifting paint. Now stabilized, preserved and newly framed, the painting is ready to be seen in its full brilliance.

“Jean Paul Riopelle was the first post-war Canadian artist to achieve international status. He is a pillar of our history, who has left in his wake a multifaceted body of work that encourages pushing past boundaries, and this is perhaps his greatest legacy,” says Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, Art Historian and Independent Researcher. “Underlining the extraordinary career of this prodigious artist enables us to keep the memory of his accomplishments alive. Riopelle was first and foremost a trailblazer, and that is precisely what made him an eminently contemporary artist. He was invested in the present moment; situating him at a crossroads in time highlights the currency of a body of work that will always be in the here and now.”

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Sylvie Lacerte, Art Historian and Independent Researcher. The Vancouver Art Gallery presentation is coordinated by Siobhan McCracken Nixon, Associate Curator. 

Riopelle: Crossroads in Time

National Gallery of Canada, 2023

Hardcover, 208 pages, 10 x 12 inches

ISBN 9780888849663

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue. This thoughtfully designed hardcover publication, edited by Sylvie Lacerte, includes essays by artists and art historians, including Gilles Daigneault, Vera Frenkel, Manuel Mathieu, Caroline Monnet, Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf and Marc Séguin, who reflect on Riopelle’s legacy.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Emily Carr New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon at Vancouver Art Gallery - A Retrospective Exhibition

Emily Carr

New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon

Vancouver Art Gallery

October 7, 2006 — January 7, 2007

The Vancouver Art Gallery presents a fresh look at the life and art of EMILY CARR (1871-1945) in the first national touring retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work in more than thirty year. Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon examines the painter through the lens of her exhibition history and extraordinary life to reveal a complex woman of extreme talent and conviction. Beginning with a partial recreation of the first exhibition of Carr’s work on the national stage, the exhibition also examines the artist as a modernist painter and explores how her persona and her work have been portrayed and interpreted over time. Jointly organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada, the exhibition features nearly 200 objects by Emily Carr and others, including paintings, drawings, watercolours, caricatures, ceramics, sculpture, hooked rugs, books, maps and photographs. Nearly 150 works of art from the National Gallery, the Vancouver Art Gallery and other major institutions are included, along with works from private collections.

“Emily Carr is a vital part of Canadian and British Columbian history, and we are proud to pay homage to her with this sweeping exhibition during the Gallery’s 75th anniversary year,” said Kathleen Bartels, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “As the holder of the world’s most significant collection of Carr’s work, the Gallery has a long tradition of exhibiting her art and contributing to the scholarship surrounding it. With this touring exhibition and the accompanying book, our visitors have the opportunity to better know the woman behind the stunning canvases.”

Emily Carr began serious study of art in her late teens after leaving home in Victoria, British Columbia to attend the California School of Design in San Francisco. Returning for a brief time, Emily Carr soon left Victoria again to attend the Westminster School of Art and study in the studios of a number of British artists. But, it was her year in France between 1910 and 1911 studying Post-Impressionist art that Emily Carr found most inspiring. In 1911, she returned to Vancouver with a commitment to document the First Nations cultures of British Columbia, a project she began in 1907, and produced a great number of watercolours and corresponding canvases in her new French style. These works met with mixed reception until 1927, when her paintings were included in the National Gallery’s Exhibition of Canadian West Coast Art Native and Modern, where they were embraced by members of the famed Canadian painters, the Group of Seven. She returned to British Columbia to begin the most productive period of her career, venturing out into remote parts of coastal British Columbia and creating the inspired, powerful canvases for which she is best known.

Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon begins with a reconstruction of the seminal Exhibition of Canadian West Coast Art Native and Modern, which introduced Carr’s work to the Canadian art establishment. This remounting of the landmark exhibition is presented in its original spirit, with contemporary works of the time mixed with historical objects of First Nations heritage. Carr’s early paintings intermingle with Haida, Tsimshian and Kwakwaka’wakw masks, house posts, carvings and textiles, as well as a selection of works by artists Anne Savage, Paul Kane, Langdon Kihn, and Group of Seven members Edwin Holgate and A.Y. Jackson.

The next section of the exhibition considers Carr as a modernist painter, drawing inspiration from the 1945 Emily Carr Memorial Exhibition presented the year of her death at the Art Gallery of Toronto. Gathering a selection of Carr’s finest works dating from 1910 to 1942, this section illustrates the artist’s skillful use of colour and form, inviting viewers to explore her unique and expressive style. Abandoning her attempts to create straightforward portrayals of First Nations life and art, the exhibition reveals Carr’s exquisite endeavour to describe the fundamental nature of her subject. It is here that Carr’s interests in primitivism and spirituality shine through in her paintings of First Nations sculpture and the dramatic landscape of coastal British Columbia.

The final section of Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon provides a unique perspective on the artist from a postmodern viewpoint. It introduces the many voices that have been brought to bear on Carr and her work, and examines Carr’s self-construction through her caricatures, self-portraits and writings. This section also evaluates her relationship to the landscape and considers her role in the development of cultural tourism on the northwest coast.

Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon was on display at the National Gallery until September 4, 2006. After showing in Vancouver, the exhibition will travel to Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario from February 24 to May 20, 2007, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from June 21 to September 23, 2007 and Calgary's Glenbow Museum from October 25, 2007 to January 26, 2008.

The exhibition is curated by Vancouver Art Gallery senior curator, Ian Thom, National Gallery curator of Canadian art Charles Hill, and Johanne Lamoureux of the Université de Montréal. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a major full-colour book, including essays by all three curators and several notable historians and critics, published with Douglas & McIntyre.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

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Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo: Places of Their Own, Vancouver Art Gallery, June 15 - September 15, 2002

Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo: Places of Their Own at Vancouver Art Gallery

Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo: 

Places of Their Own

Vancouver Art Gallery

June 15 - September 15, 2002

For the first time in western Canada, this exhibition brings together the work of Emily Carr, Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo, three extraordinary artists widely acknowledged as outstanding 20th century painters in their respective countries - Canada, the United States and Mexico. Their art reveals a singleness of spirit and a shared fascination with themes of nature, culture and self.

The Vancouver Art Gallery retains one of the most significant Emily Carr collections in the world and is justifiably proud to present this outstanding exhibition. Comprising 56 paintings, the exhibition was inspired by Dr. Sharyn Udall’s book of the same name and curated by Dr. Udall for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The works are hanging according to artist, inviting an intimate study of individual style yet enabling comparison of common themes.

“The Vancouver Art Gallery is honoured to present the work of three women artists who have become cultural icons of their nation. This exhibition reveals individual creative vision and the shared spirit of courage, passion and integrity”, said Kathleen Bartels, Director, Vancouver Art Gallery. “This is the last remaining opportunity to view the work of Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo under one roof. It broke previous attendance levels when shown in both Ontario and Santa Fe and we anticipate it will be a huge success in Vancouver.”

Each artist felt a connectedness to nature and their work reinvented traditional imagery relating to the natural landscape. With stunning clarity their paintings convey a sense of the landscape as female, from Carr’s symbolic forests to O’Keeffe’s anthropomorphic plant forms and Kahlo’s earth-mother self portraits.

The exhibition also brings to light aspects of the shared histories and cultural differences between Canada, the United States and Mexico. Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo interpreted and expressed the essential character of their region. They defined, for the period, a distinct Canadian, American and Mexican experience. Collectively, their work can be seen to play a critical role in defining the art of North America by linking region and nationality.

Emily Carr (1871-1945) was born in British Columbia, painted for most of her life and began a writing career only a few years before her death. Her interest in the lives and rituals of indigenous Canadians is reflected in the totemic animals and mythic females of her paintings. Carr also depicted the vast natural beauty of the Pacific northwest, going beyond the presiding misty landscapes of the day by creating a unique visual idiom. Few Canadians have achieved the legendary stature of Emily Carr.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was an American painter who found most of her inspiration in nature. O’Keeffe’s animal skulls and desert landscapes are famous icons of modernism and her anthropomorphic plant forms distinguish her highly personalized style. Her work is characterized by sensually smooth forms and stunning use of colour. O’Keeffe, married to photographer Alfred Stieglitz, lived between New York and New Mexico, eventually moving permanently to New Mexico after her husband’s death where she painted some of her best work.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was an influential Mexican painter known for her harsh, revealing self-portraits. Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, southwest Mexico City. She lived in constant pain after being seriously injured in a bus accident when a metal rod pierced her body. Through the use of jarring colour and odd spatial relationships her self-portraits reflect her long-term physical and emotional suffering. Kahlo’s stormy marriage to famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera is well documented. The intensity of Kahlo’s work and her strong creative legacy resonate beyond her brief, turbulent life.

Carr, O’Keeffe and Kahlo: Places of Their Own opened in Canada at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in June 2001 prior to touring to the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Women in Art, Washington. Co-ordinated by Ian Thom, Senior Curator, Historical, Vancouver Art Gallery. Organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. This exhibition is presented by The Audain Foundation.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca