Yseult Riopelle, Jean Paul Riopelle: Catalogue raisonné, volume 1, 1939-1953, Montreal, 1999, reproduced page 405, catalogue #1946.051P.1946
Guy Cogeval and Stéphane Aquin, Riopelle: Works from the Collection of Power Corporation of Canada and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (catalogue), Montreal, 2006, page 57
After reading André Breton's “Le Surréalisme et la peinture” in 1945, the young artist was inspired to break away from tradition to pursue non-representational painting. Riopelle created several small watercolours in the next two years, consisting of web-like black lines that blur the distinction between foreground and background, such as “Sans titre” (1946). François-Marc Gagnon writes that “in his watercolours of late 1946 and early 1947, Riopelle has begun his exploration of the non-form, or, better yet, of the content which cannot reveal itself except on condition of denying form, of repelling it into oblivion, so to speak. By maintaining the idea of depth (the network of lines does not function to bring the background to the surface), Riopelle is distinguishing himself before the fact from New York painting.” In 1947 Riopelle moved to Paris to continue his career, where, after a brief association with the surrealists, he developed his mature style of lyrical abstraction.
