In 1966, Jean Paul Riopelle joined the renowned Galerie Maeght in Paris, where he discovered their legendary printmaking studio on the rue Daguerre. There he met many artists, including Giacometti, Calder, and Miró. In addition to such stimulating encounters, Riopelle experimented with various printmaking techniques, compelled in equal measure by the resulting trials and errors. As though sensing the incredible creative potential, he seemed more inclined to explore the medium’s limits rather than its traditional processes.
From 1967 on, Riopelle produced more than thirty lithographs in this studio, including the series Feuilles, Jutes, and, of course, his famous Album 67. His process yielded a great quantity of discarded tests and failed prints, but, in a bold, ingenious move, the artist kept these castoffs, and proceeded to cut, fold, tear, and assemble them into superb collages. For Riopelle, the process of assemblage is to collage what gesture is to painting: a playground of endless possibility.
Paradisier is one of the forty‑or‑so unique works produced during this period, a chapter in Riopelle’s life that would remain influential throughout his career.
