The Foundation

Yseult Riopelle is the daughter of Françoise Lespérance and Jean Paul Riopelle. At the helm of Hibou Éditeurs and Kétoupa édition, she has been publishing for several years the Catalogue raisonné de Jean Paul Riopelle. Four of the 10 volumes have been published and a fifth is in the works for 2020.

From 1961 to 1963, Yseult Riopelle studied dance in Montréal with Ludmilla Chiriaeff, Jeanne Renaud and Françoise Riopelle, then in Paris with Karine Weiner from 1963 to 1965, then in New York where she joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company until 1968.

In the 1970s, while in France, Yseult Riopelle created and exhibited sculpture integrating various materials. In the 1980s, she created jewellery that she presented, among others, at the Montréal Exhibition Centre.

In 1988, Jean Paul Riopelle mandated Yseult Riopelle to act as the exclusive authenticator, researcher and editor of the Catalogue raisonné of his oeuvre. She has been acting as an expert of the oeuvre of Jean Paul Riopelle for Canadian museums, and some of the most prestigious auction houses in the world such as Cornette de St-Cyr, Loudmer, Christie's, Sotheby's, Heffel and Artcurial.

Yseult Riopelle continues to dedicate most of her time to the Catalogue raisonné. She also acts as a consultant for various exhibitions and publications in Paris, New York and Montréal. She is also guest curator for the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts for the exhibition Riopelle: The Call of Northern Landscapes and Indigenous Cultures, which will open in Montréal in November of 2020, followed by a Canadian tour. She is also currently completing the fifth volume of the Catalogue raisonné de Jean Paul Riopelle (1972-1979 period), which will be published in late fall of 2020.

The Honorable Serge Joyal is a Canadian jurist, a former Member of Parliament, Minister, Secretary of State and Senator.

After his graduation in Law from Université de Montréal, he completed post graduate studies at the Comparative Law Faculty of Strasbourg University (France), he obtained a Master’s degree in Public Law from Sheffield University (England) and registered for a Master of Philosophy at London School of Economics (England).

Serge Joyal has always advocated for the protection of cultural heritage, being among the first directors of Heritage Montreal in 1972, and later a trustee of the Canadian Center for Architecture. He still regularly intervenes publicly with Phyllis Lambert to rescue threatened heritage buildings.

He was co-founder with Father Wilfrid Corbeil in 1968 of the Art Museum of Joliette. He has been a trustee of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts since 2009 and chairs it’s Decorative Arts Committee. A collector of art and historical artefacts, he is a benefactor of several major Canadian museums.

Serge Joyal has written and edited numerous articles and books on law, art and history. A long time promoter of the works of Jean-Paul Riopelle, he was the first to support in 1998 the publication of the first volumes of the Catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works by Yseult Riopelle.

During his distinguished public career, Mr. Joyal has received numerous awards and distinctions including an honorary doctorate from Moncton University (N. B.); he is an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of La Pléiade, an Officer of the National Order of Quebec, a Chevalier (1995), Officier (2008) and Commandeur (2019) of the National Order of the Légion d’honneur (France).

He is a special Member of the Royal Society of Canada and he has been granted the distinction of Advocate Emeritus by the Quebec Bar.

Isabelle Maeght is a major figure in the art world, administrator of the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght and director of the Galerie Maeght.

In 1970, she joined the ARTE printing works as an apprentice, before becoming a lithographic engraver five years later. In 1976, she took over the management of L'Automobiliste, the first magazine devoted to vintage automobiles. Since 1977, she has been administrator of the Fondation Maeght, an internationally renowned institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art, and since 1990, director of the Galerie Maeght.

Over the decades, she has organized numerous exhibitions around the world, showcasing the work of major artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Georges Braque, Eduardo Chillida and Marc Chagall. These exhibitions have been shown at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney), the Musée Picasso (Munster), Fort de Bard (Italy), the Royal Academy of Art (London) and cultural institutions in Korea and Japan. At the Fondation Maeght, she has also orchestrated major exhibitions devoted to Giacometti, Miró, Chillida, Jean Paul Riopelle and the great movements of modernism.

A recognized specialist, Isabelle Maeght has participated in the writing of numerous Catalogues raisonnés and given many lectures on the art and artists of the XXᵉ century, thus contributing to the dissemination and enhancement of artistic heritage.