Jean Paul Riopelle was renowned as a prolific and versatile artist, and his work in collage has a noteworthy origin story that we can trace back to 1946, when he visited New York. There, he met artist and founder of Atelier 17 Stanley Hayter, who invited him to work at the print studio and learn the basics of printmaking. Riopelle created a few prints in 1954 for the covers of his exhibition catalogues, and two prints in 1964 for the portfolio 1 Cent Life, which featured artists Pierre Alechinsky, Joan Mitchell and Sam Francis. However, not until his entry into the select stable of artists at Galerie Maeght in 1966 did Riopelle truly develop his printmaking practice. In 1967, he produced his first significant series of prints, including the well-known Feuilles, Jutes and Album.

As was typical of Riopelle’s fruitful practice, he created an impressive body of work and experimented with the medium, which meant that at times, some prints were rejected. Rather than discarding them, Riopelle recognized their potential as raw artistic material and used them to explore an entirely new medium—the litho-collage. By cutting sections of different prints and meticulously reassembling them, he created stunning compositions of juxtaposed planes of colours and textures, reminiscent of stained-glass windows. Subito presto represents a fine example of Riopelle’s litho-collages.