Chantal Quenneville 1897 - 1969

French born painter in both oil and watercolour of landscapes, still lifes, portraits and figure subjects. She was born in Normandy and in 1906 moved with her family to Montbard in the Bourgogne region of eastern France. Quenneville studied art locally and from 1915 at École des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and later at the Académie Colarossi, in company with her friend Jeanne Hebuterne, who became Modigliani’s lover. During this period she was influenced by Maurice Loutreuil (1885-1925). Quenneville married the pianist Adolphe Hallis in 1921. By 1922 she and her husband had settled in Cleveland Gardens in London W2 and she exhibited her work mainly with The London Group 1922-26, becoming a member of the group in 1926. She also showed with The Redfern Gallery and The Leicester Galleries. Thereafter she spent some time living in Berlin and met the American artist Alexander Calder there in 1929. In 1937 she shared an exhibition in Montbard with Ernest Boguet, who also was from that town, and some years after her death a retrospective exhibition of her paintings was held at a gallery in the town. In 1965 Quenneville donated a significant collection of Stein paintings, drawings, documents and correspondence to Yale University Library which had been given to her by her closest friend Nina Stein, the second wife of the Leo D Stein. Copyright Grant Waters 2016