Jean-Paul Riopelle, Suite caribou, 1972, lithograph. Gift of Dr Lino Di Lullo, 1994 (37-094.06)
Exhibitions
Black Suites
Historical Feature Gallery
17 December - 8 April 2007
The exhibition presented three suites by three Canadian abstractionists, each using a print medium with black ink on white paper. Bravura, large-scale suites by Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) and Graham Coughtry (1931-1998) were matched with an exquisite suite of small mezzotints by former Kingston artist Robert Van de Peer.
The exhibition provided a glimpse into aspects of Canadian printmaking in the decade 1972 to 1982. Riopelle emerged from the crucible of Québec Automatisme in the 1940s to develop an international career in Paris, where he discovered the pleasures of printmaking, while Coughtry was a significant participant in the Toronto vanguard beginning in the 1950s as well as a provocative visual artist and participant in the legendary Artists' Jazz Band. Van de Peer, on the other hand, forged a quieter path in Kingston as an art teacher at St Lawrence College and a creator of sumptuously expressive prints.
Dorothy Farr