A member of the historically prominent Pagnuelo family of Montreal, Françoise Pagnuelo was born and lived most of her life in Westmount. She also lived and painted in Ste. Adele, Quebec. She studied art in Montreal under Edwin Holgate, Lilias Torrence Newton, Thomas Reid MacDonald, Harold Beament, Adam Sheriff Scott, and Jean-Paul Lemieux. She exhibited regularly from 1940 to 1956 and showed at The Art Association of Montreal- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts [1940-44 & 1953], Henry Morgan & Company Ltd. [1943], Art Gallery of Toronto [1950], Independent Art Association [1956], Hamilton Art Gallery [1957], etc. Throughout her life Pagnuelo received excellent critical acclaim for her art. In 1943 the Montreal Gazette reviewed her exhibition at the art gallery of Henry Morgan & Company: “It is an exhibition which suggests considerable industry; judgment in the selection of material, and a praiseworthy effort in execution.” In 1944 the Montreal Gazette also reported that the work in her show at The Chanteclere, de Ste. Adele was “...sincere and unaffected...impressive in composition and direct in handling.” The Montreal Herald commented on the “excellent use of colour” in her 1950 exhibition at Le Cercle Universitaire. The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph characterized her work as “charming” with a “gaiety of colour.” Reviewing the same 1950 exhibition, La Presse wrote: “The present exhibition offers works which depart from the usual inspiration of women painters. The artist possesses a lively fondness for nature, which she then interprets with real emotion”. Françoise Pagnuelo’s subject matter included urban scenes, architecturals, marines, still-lifes, portraits (with some black subjects), and landscapes of Montreal, the Laurentians, Gaspé, and New England. A fine painter in the post-impressionist tradition her career was tragically cut short when she died of cancer at the age of 39.

Bibliography: McMann. “Montreal Museum of Fine Arts…Spring Exhibitions 1880-1970” [p.291]; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada. “Artists in Canada…A Union List of Artist’s Files…” [p. 497]. (information taken from files courtesy of the Library of the National Galley of Canada, Ottawa and the E.P. Taylor Reference Library, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto).