The mid-March grand opening of the exhibit ‘Riopelle: Crossroads in Time’, showcased at the Vancouver Art Gallery, was hallmarked by the passionate tribute given by Michael Audain. Audain, a notable philanthropist and chairman of the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, praised the late Quebecois modernist Riopelle as ‘one of the most influential figures in Canadian artistry’. He also tipped his hat towards Jean-Luc Murray, the current director general of Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, where a brand new addition is being built solely to honour Riopelle. The address concluded with Audain delivering an enthusiastic ‘Long Live Canada’, stressed further by a vigorous punch to the air.
The buoyant mood reigning amongst the audience that particular night seemed to echo the same spirits which led the Liberal Party and Mark Carney to a respectable victory in the recent nationwide election. However, despite the accomplishment, they didn’t manage to accumulate enough vote confidence to secure an overriding parliamentary majority.
David Heffel, esteemed president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, wittily describes the emerging phenomenon among art enthusiasts. According to him, it’s no longer about keeping your ‘elbows up’ in competition but about raising your ‘paddles up’ in auctions. He further observes that the appeal of Riopelle’s work is not confined within Canadian borders – foreign interest is growing.
Heffel reveals that many of the art investors are overseas buyers, including from America, and expat Canadians who are capitalising on the favourable exchange rate against the Canadian dollar. The works of Riopelle have been particularly in vogue recently.
The new magnetic pull towards Riopelle’s legacy can partly be credited to the generous gifting of his art to the developing Riopelle centre in Quebec. This gesture has subsequently induced a scarcity in the market, making the paintings harder to find, thereby increasing their appeal and value.
Heffel suggests that the recent generous donations have indirectly resulted in a market vacuum. Noting, ‘these pieces are to be removed from the market for a lifetime and beyond’, he forecasts that securing a museum-grade Riopelle piece will become virtually unattainable for the coming collector generations.
To illustrate, Heffel refers to another significant Canadian modernist, Emily Carr, whose art has previously faced a similar fate. When the Emily Carr Trust decided to indefinitely retain more than 300 masterpieces, it became a challenging pursuit for collectors to acquire her work.
The surge in demand and value of Canadian art is also a reflection of a wider economic trend of expanding interprovincial trade. As interprovincial art buying is on the rise, the market strength for Canadian art is unquestionably on an upward curve.
Felix Tetu, a seasoned Quebecois collector and owner of six Riopelle pieces, also confirms the escalating market from his own experiences. He highlights the purchase price of a Riopelle’s Iceberg series painting in 1980 being C$50,000, skyrocketing to an approximate worth of C$5m in today’s terms
Although Riopelle’s recognition has been significantly substantial in Quebec and France, his celebrity in anglophone Canada has been marginally less pronounced until now. However, the recent surge in exposure of his work is steadily helping to bridge this discrepancy.
The continued showcasing of Riopelle’s work starting from the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, then to the Winnipeg Art Gallery and presently at the Vancouver Art Gallery, has been instrumental in expanding his recognition. The attention that his work gets contributes positively to shaping a wider image of Riopelle and his life’s work.
The current wave of nationalism not only amplifies the celebration of Canadian artists like Riopelle but is also initiating the breakdown of ‘les deux solitude’. This term refers to the age-old cultural divide between anglophone and francophone regions of Canada, which has largely limited their cultural exchanges.
Suffice to say, the resurgence of interest and investment in Canadian art, led by the works of Riopelle and others, not only augments the Canadian art marketplace but also potentially invites a sense of unity amongst the diverse cultural regions of the country.
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