Born in Kiev in 1919 into a cultured Jewish family, Youla Chapoval emigrated to Paris in 1924, where he would later become a key figure of the Second School of Paris. Initially drawn to medicine, he gradually turned to art after encounters with Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and other leading figures of the Parisian avant-garde. Encouraged by friends such as Jean Degottex and Apel Fenosa, he abandoned medicine in 1942 to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and later at the Écoles des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and Toulouse, during the war years.
Returning to Paris in 1944, Chapoval quickly entered the postwar artistic scene. His first solo exhibition at Galerie Jeanne Bucher in 1947 earned him the Second Prize of the Prix de la Jeune Peinture. In 1949, he won the prestigious Kandinsky Prize and confirmed his place among the most promising painters of his generation. He exhibited with Jeanne Bucher, Denise René, and Henri Bénézit, and participated in the Salon de Mai and the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. His circle included not only Picasso and Cocteau, but also Hans Hartung and Charles Estienne.
Chapoval’s career, though brief, was extraordinarily prolific: over 700 paintings, along with gouaches, drawings, and inks, produced in less than a decade. His work evolved from Fauvist-inspired figuration to structured Cubist compositions, and later to freer, lyrical abstraction. In 1951, just after completing murals for the École Langevin at Suresnes, he died unexpectedly at the age of 32.
Despite his early death, Chapoval’s reputation endured. Retrospectives were held at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (1964) and at Villeneuve d’Ascq (1991). His works are found in major French and international collections, including the Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
A “meteor” of the postwar art world, Chapoval remains a significant voice in modern painting—bridging poetry, geometry, and emotion within the vibrant legacy of the École de Paris.
