100 Years of Riopelle: The conservation of Jean Paul Riopelle’s paintings
We had the pleasure of working with the National Gallery of Canada and the Audain collection to conserve paintings by Jean-Paul Riopelle. 2023 marked 100 years since the birth of one of Canada’s most prolific and recognized artists, Jean Paul Riopelle. To mark the centennial anniversary, The National Gallery of Canada hosted an exhibition celebrating the works of the late Quebecois automatist artist, entitled Riopelle: Crossroads in Time. The show ran in Ottawa from October 27th, 2023 to April 7, 2024, however the planning and execution of such a grand exhibition begins long before the opening night.
As a private conservation company of the highest standards, we are extremely grateful to have a trusted relationship with west coast art collectors, such as Micheal Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa. In preparation for the exhibition, the National Gallery of Canada asked us to do an assessment of 8 Riopelle paintings from the Audain Collection to ensure that they were in a stable condition for the exhibition.
Over several years, we have had the opportunity to examine and treat over 100 paintings by Jean Paul Riopelle, and we have come to understand the challenges that arise from the materials and techniques of this specific artist. Transporting these artworks safely across the country is a very involved process, and careful examination of the paintings revealed that they each needed some level of treatment to improve durability prior to their journey to Ottawa.
When assessing Riopelle’s signature pallet knife paintings, we take special care to examine the surface in visible, raking, and ultraviolet light, often creating a condition diagram to track cracks, instability, previous retouching, etc. Later when the painting travels, a condition report and a diagram which includes the crack pattern, accompanies the painting so that conservators at each venue can ensure the painting condition is unchanged.
Conserving Riopelle paintings in our lab.
Conservator notes condition onto an image on a tablet to create a diagram for a condition report.
These paintings are fragile and difficult to conserve. We use specially formulated cleaning solutions to carefully lift dirt and grime from the surface, using extreme caution and care to clean in and around the fragile peaks of the signature high impasto. Though not in the case of these paintings, sometimes artist varnishes must be removed since Riopelle did not varnish his paintings and a varnish layer changes the surface appearance away from original.
Dirt and grime is removed using cotton swabs with an aqueous cleaning solution mixed for the painting.
Many hands make for quick work! Paintings conservators cooperate to clean a large Riopelle painting.
For paintings by Jean-Paul Riopelle, the diversity in paint application and the intermixing of different pigments and oil requires special consideration of every different crack in order to safely secure the Riopelle’s oil paint application lends itself to several unique issues, to relieve tension as the paint ages, drying cracks form throughout the intricate system of paint layers, often pulling the canvas forward to form a pattern of what we call “quilting” on the reverse. Most often, these cracks are stable and the painting is in a very satisfied and stable state. Sometimes, the ageing of the materials and changes in the environment may cause instability to occur over time.
Sometimes in the richly and thickly applied paint layers, paint will further lift from the surface, creating unstable cleavage between paint layers. Other times, the application of lean, matte paint leads to an incredibly friable surface. Riopelle’s paintings have thickly applied paint (impasto), and sometimes the natural cracks that develop during the drying of the paint will later lift at the edges to an extent that a small void develops between the paint and the canvas.
Traveling an artwork with these existing issues can cause paint loss if unstable areas are not secured. Consolidation is another priority for treatment of Riopelle’s works, and every painting requires special attention the sensitivities and character of the paint. The goal is to stabilize the paint from below, without changing the character or finish of the paint. The consolidant we choose for a friable matte area is entirely different from what we may use to secure a more rigid cleaving paint.
An area of raised cracks and cleavage in an area of rich media on a Riopelle painting.
A conservator consolidates an area of lifting paint with a wax resin mixture with the aid of a silicone tool and a specialized hot air pen.
As much as is possible, we try to bring areas of lifted paint back into plane with the original surface, incredibly slowly and carefully with specialized heat tools to reduce the height of the paint. But, often the paint layer is comfortable and rigid in a lifted position and the canvas has followed the paint forward, and the paint cannot be brought back into plane safely; in these cases we take special care not to force these areas as this could lead to further damage and could change the character of the work. Riopelle’s works, and works of this type that have high impasto depend on modulation in the canvas that corresponds with different thickness of paint at the front. We often use a reversible thicker consolidant to support a lifted paint stroke that wishes to remain in position, to reduce the risk of further cleavage or loss. As an aside, it would be a tragedy to line a painting that has heavy impasto and depends on natural deformations in the canvas for paint stability and appearance, though we have seen paintings where this unfortunately has been done.
The priority for conservation of this collection was stabilization, and the paintings were in very good condition, but in a few areas, we did infill and inpaint into more noticeable losses. In our lab, this is always done with reversible media and without any invasion onto artist paint.
Inpainting a sculpted infill on the Riopelle painting.
A backing board built up with acid-free foam board is attached to the verso to ensure the canvas moves as little as possible in transit.
In consultation with the National Gallery on this project, we ensured that every painting was safe and secure for travel. We applied preventative methods such as upgrading the hanging hardware and providing custom rigid backing inserts to support the canvases from the reverse, to reduce movement of the canvas during transport. We also collaborated with specialist crate-builders for the best packaging of these artworks for transport.
We are grateful to have been able to work with the National Gallery of Canada and the Audain Collection to aid in preservation of the Riopelle paintings during the important public exhibition of these paintings.
Kristy Corcoran, Conservator of Paintings, April 15, 2024