Timeline

Chapoval arrived in Paris in 1924 from the Ukraine, and attended the Académie de la Grand Chaumière, before working at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, and then in Toulouse during the war. Returning to Paris in 1947, he held his first solo exhibition at Galerie Jeanne Bucher, which was to establish him as one of the most respected young painters of the new Jeune École de Paris, and he was awarded the Prix de la Jeune Peinture. In 1949 he exhibited with the avant-garde group “Les Mains Éblouies” at Galerie Maeght in Paris, and was awarded the Prix Kandinsky. He then held several exhibitions at the influential Galerie Denise René, and Galerie Henri Bénézit. In 1951 he was commissioned to paint three large murals for the École Langevin at Suresnes, but shortly after their completion later that year Chapoval was tragically found dead in his studio. A retrospective dedicated to the artist’s work was staged at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1965, and more recently in 1991 at the Centre d’Art Contemporain, Villeneuve-d’Asq.

The artist’s work is represented in several museums, including: Musée National D’Art Moderne, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne, Villeneuve-d’Asq; Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes.