Two books reveal Queneau's hidden painting practice and intimate letters

Dominique Charnay's research brings to light Raymond Queneau's little-known pictorial practice, previously reserved for collectors and enthusiasts. In "Queneau. Peintures, dessins, aquarelles" (Buchet-Chastel) and "Cher Monsieur-Jean-Marie mon fils, Lettres 1938-1971" (Gallimard), Charnay explores Queneau's hybrid artistic identity. Queneau, author of "Zazie dans le Métro" and "Exercices de style," was influenced early by Braque, Miró, André Masson, and Picabia, and as a child by Jean-Paul Laurens's painting "L'Interdit." He drew from a young age and worked professionally from 1946 to 1952, exhibiting paintings, drawings, and watercolors, but lacked commercial success and stopped. He shared a studio on rue Blomet with major artists and discovered London and Venice. The letters, written to his son from age eight as an equal, reveal intimate aspects of Queneau's life, including his wonder, work, interest in images, music, and cinema, and stories told during the war. These two essential books present a modern Queneau.