Ernest Ponthier de Chamaillard (1862 - 1931)

Ernest Marie Félix Ponthier de Chamaillard was born in Quimper. He was a leading French painter of the Pont-Aven School. Originally destined for a career as a lawyer, he abandoned law following his fateful meeting with Paul Gauguin in Pont-Aven in 1888. Having joined the circle of artists at the Pension Gloanec alongside Émile Bernard, Charles Laval and Henry Moret, he adopted the principles of Synthetism whilst retaining a highly personal sensibility.

Deeply attached to Brittany, Ernest Ponthier de Chamaillard devoted the bulk of his work to its landscapes, harbours and villages. His paintings, with their harmonious colour schemes, convey a poetic vision of Breton nature. Forced to return to his career as a lawyer and then take up an administrative post to support himself, he nevertheless continued his artistic practice and exhibited regularly in major Parisian galleries such as Berheim-Jeune in 1906 and 1910, and Georges Petit in 1925 and 1930. Today, he is recognised as one of the most endearing representatives of the Pont-Aven School, whose artistic diversity and richness he embodies.