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JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE, R.C.A.MERLACHEoil on canvassigned and dated '66; titled on the gallery label 36 ins x 25.5 ins; 91.4 cms x 64.8 cms Provenance:Galerie Maeght, ParisGalerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., MontrealEstate of Douglas A. Berlis, TorontoPrivate Collection, AlbertaLiterature:Aime Maght (ed)., Riopelle: Derrière le Miroir, Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1966.Note:Recognized as one of Canada's most important artists of the twentieth century, Jean-Paul Riopelle enjoyed a career spanning more than four decades in North America and Europe. As a student of Paul-Émile Borduas, Riopelle joined a group of like-minded painters in Montreal who became known as the Automatistes for their spontaneous approach to painting. The Automatistes began exhibiting their work in New York in 1953. By the mid-1950s, Riopelle was exhibiting internationally in solo and group shows and living in France where he would spend the majority of his career. Riopelle represented Canada at the XXXI Venice Biennale in 1962 and was the first solo artist to do so. He was also the first Canadian to receive an award at this prominent exhibition. Merlache was shown in Paris the year it was painted at Galerie Maeght in the solo exhibition Derrière le Miroir. It was one of twenty-four oil paintings shown together with works on paper and sculpture. The exhibition marked the beginning of a long relationship between the artist and the gallery which also represented Chagall, Giacometti and Braque. Among the canvases that were shown at Maeght in Derrière le Miroir, Merlache stands out for its portrait format which Riopelle largely reserved for triptychs during this period.