Chantal Joffe (born 5 October 1969) is an American-born English artist based in London.
[Royal Academy of Arts]
Chantal Joffe RA Elect , Artist , Royal Academy of Arts
accessdate: 29/08/2014 Her often large-scale paintings generally depict women and children. In 2006, she received the prestigious Charles Wollaston Award from the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
.
Life and education
Chantal Joffe was born in
St. Albans, Vermont, USA.
Her younger brother is the contemporary artist and novelist
Jasper Joffe. Their mother, Daryll Joffe, is also an artist, painting in watercolours.
Joffe completed her Foundation studies at
Camberwell College of Arts (1987–88). She attended
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...
in 1988–91, graduating with honours and receiving her BA in Fine Art. She received her MA in painting from the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...
, which she attended from 1992–94.
She was honoured with the Delfina Studio Trust Award in 1994–96 and the Abbey Scholarship (British School at Rome) in 1998–99.
Joffe lives in London.
Work
Joffe primarily paints expressive portraits of women and children, often in very large scale, sometimes tall.
She has painted her own mother repeatedly, for over 30 years.
In a 2009 interview with
Stella McCartney, Joffe said, "I really love painting women. Their bodies, their clothes – it all interests me."
Source images for her personality-filled oil paintings include family photos, advertising, fashion magazines, and pornography.
Working roughly from her photographic source material, Joffe introduces distortions to her depictions.
In the McCartney interview, Joffe mentions the photography of
Diane Arbus as an inspiration for her art: "I find photography massively influential. Specifically, Diane Arbus, who I've been obsessed with my whole life. Her work has everything about the portrait of a human that you can ever want."
A critic for ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' has said of her "big rude paintings" that "she paints with a kind of easy control – effortless without being slick."
He further points out that her paintings may give an initial impression of simplicity, charm, or childishness, but "they have an unsettling quality which gives the exhibition an odd, rather menacing mood."
Some of her paintings are so large that she required
scaffolding
Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely u ...
to work on them.
Painting in huge, unfussy brushstrokes, she is unconcerned with stray drips and blobs of paint, and sometimes leaves old outlines visible. A reviewer noted that "painting the heads up close also makes for large, wonky eyes and odd proportions, like Picasso
re-invented in manga."
In 2006, Colette Meacher, editor of the British magazine ''Latest Art'', described Joffe's large paintings as "simply exquisite representations of femininity".
Joffe often draws inspiration from fashion models, “photos of friends, the work of other artists” and images of women and children in realistic poses.
Joffe’s work is reminiscent of
Alice Neel, with whom she was teamed up for an art show and
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...
, the Canadian singer, songwriter and figurative artist.
This group of artists are known for feminist messages in their work.
Exhibitions and collections
Chantal Joffe's work has shown internationally in many exhibitions. She has had solo exhibitions in London,
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
,
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
,
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
and
Bologna
Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
.
Her work has also been featured in many group exhibitions.
In 2002, she participated in an exhibition entitled ''The Bold and The Beautiful'', at The Pavilions,
Mile End Park
Mile End Park is a park located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a linear park of some , and was created on industrial land devastated by World War II bombing, with the park lying on land to the east of the Regent's Canal. In the n ...
in London. This show marked the first time Chantal, her mother Daryll Joffe, and her brother
Jasper Joffe were featured in an exhibit together.
She won the
£25,000 Charles Wollaston Award in the 2006
Royal Academy summer exhibition
The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...
, for the "most distinguished work in the exhibition".
The winning painting was ''Blond Girl – Black Dress''.
The judges praised the painting as "an incredibly strong and striking painting ... There was no debate about the winner, the decision was reached unanimously."
Joffe has been featured in exhibitions at the
Jewish Museum
A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area.
Notable Jewish museums include:
Albania
* Solomon Museum, Berat
Australia
* Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...
in New York City, including ''Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings: Chantal Joffe'' in 2015 and ''Scenes from the Collection'' in 2019. Joffe's work was included in the 2022 exhibition ''Women Painting Women'' at the
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...
.
Joffe's work is in the collections of The New Art Gallery, Walsall,
Saatchi Gallery (
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
),
Berardo Collection Museum (
Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
), Museo Arte Contemporanea Isernia (
Isernia
Isernia () is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Molise, and the capital of the province of Isernia.
Geography
Situated on a rocky crest rising from between the Carpino and the Sordo rivers, the plan of Isernia still refl ...
, Italy), Museo d'Arte Classica (
Zola Predosa, Italy), the
Jewish Museum
A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area.
Notable Jewish museums include:
Albania
* Solomon Museum, Berat
Australia
* Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...
(New York, USA), and The West Collection (
Oaks, Pennsylvania).
She is represented by the
Victoria Miro Gallery
The Victoria Miro Gallery is a British contemporary art gallery in London, run by Victoria Miro. Miro opened her first gallery in 1985 in Cork Street, before moving to larger premises in Islington in 2000 and later opening a second space in St ...
in London and Galleria Monica De Cardenas in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
and
Zuoz.
UK public collections featuring her work include The New Art Gallery, Walsall
Arts Council Collection,
Government Art Collection
The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...
, Jerwood Collection,
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
and Royal College of Art.
Awards
Joffe has received numerous awards and recognitions, including:
*
Nat West 90’s Prize for Art; John Kinross Memorial Scholarship (1991)
* Elizabeth Greenshields Award; Paris Studio Award, Royal College of Art (1993)
* Delfina Studio Trust Award (1994–1996)
* Abbey Scholarship, the
British School at Rome
The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities.
History
The British Sc ...
(1998–1999)
* The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition’s Wollaston Award (2006)
References
External links
*
Saatchi Gallery: Chantal JoffeVictoria Miro: Chantel Joffe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joffe, Chantal
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American women artists
20th-century English women artists
21st-century English women artists
Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts
Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
British contemporary painters
English contemporary artists
English women painters
Painters from London
People from St. Albans, Vermont
Royal Academicians
Sibling artists