Galerie Simon Blais begins the new year with celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002), a key artist in the history of Quebec and Canadian art. The exhibition "Riopelle imprime!" (Riopelle Prints!) is presented from January 18 to February 25, 2023.

An avant-garde painter who had already achieved success in the 1950s, Riopelle proved to be a formidable printmaker when he began this practice in 1966 at the Galerie Maeght's ARTE studios. His lithographic and etching work then marked out his career until the end.

Galerie Simon Blais has been promoting Jean Paul Riopelle's work on paper for over 25 years. In recent years, the exhibitions "Suites sans fin, lithographies géantes" (2015), "Les migrations du bestiaire" (2014), "Mémoires d'ateliers" (2010), "Force des forêts" (2010), "Papiers géants" (2007) and "Estampes et mutations" (2005) were each devoted to a specific period in the artist's career.

The present exhibition brings together dozens of prints produced between 1967 and 1990, including his most important ones (Bestiaire, Cap-Tourmente, the Geese, the Suites, etc.), as well as numerous works on paper. This is an exhaustive overview and a rare opportunity to see simultaneously so many prints by Riopelle from our collection, certainly the most important in Canada.