Robert Chailloux French, 1913-2006

Robert Chailloux was born in Paris on 23 April 1913. His talent for drawing was apparent before he left school, and he trained first at the École Spéciale de Dessin on the Boulevard de Belleville and subsequently at the École des Arts Décoratifs. In his early career he worked en plein air, producing pastel and gouache studies of the French fishing ports. A severe curvature of the spine progressively restricted his mobility, however, and in time confined him to his studio. He never parted with these early plein air works, which he kept beside him throughout his life for the memories they brought back. Unable to travel, Chailloux turned to still life painting, the field in which he made his name. He became a member of the Salon des Artistes Français in 1940 and exhibited there regularly, entering the Salon de la Nationale in 1943 and the Salon des Indépendants in 1945. In the same year he was elected to the Salon de la Marine, where he was invited to show the nautical still lifes and marine compositions of his early career.

His awards included gold medals at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon de l'Art Libre and the Salon Violet, and the Prix du Comité at the Salon d'Hiver. Chailloux assembled an extensive collection of French provincial pottery, and his studio held many of the finest examples. Each vase and pot was labelled and stored in a large cabinet beside his easel, and these vessels recur throughout his compositions. The fruits and flowers he painted were taken from his own garden or selected from the local market, and his subjects followed the seasons closely. His palette combines muted tones with passages of intense pigment, and his handling is precise and highly finished, in a manner often compared to the Dutch still life tradition. Chailloux died in 2006. His paintings were acquired by the City of Paris and the Museum of the Île-de-France, and examples are held in public collections in Britain, including Brighton and Hove Museums, as well as in private collections worldwide.