Galerie Plaisance

Quinet was mobilized during the war and shortly afterwards got divorced from his wife.

The same year, Quinet met Yvonne Guegan and she introduced him to the world of art. Following this, Quinet worked in an architectural agency, belonging to Antoine Charpentier, where he exhibited his first works alongside artists such as the painter Clavel or Veronese House for the lightings.�

Other than that, he often frequented the craftsmen's workshops in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine area of Paris.

His first exhibition in the Decorative Artist's Salon dates from 1942.

In 1943 he received his first order in Paris from the Krema Company for whom he realized some office furniture.�

That same year he met Claude Legendre, the daughter of an industrial whom married in 1949 and who played an essential role in his career.

Another important meeting was with Georges Akopian, an Armenian painter with whom he became friendly.

In 1944, he made the acquaintance of the well known cabinet maker of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, François Sebasta, who became his manufacturer and who marked his career.�He initiated Jacques Quinet to the many different techniques used in wood work and passed on to him the tradition of his expert knowledge and taste for perfection.�François Sebasta could be considered to be his�master.

In 1946 Quinet installed his family and workroom in the 17th quarter of Paris and organized exhibitions and made arrangements so as to be able to receive well to do customers.

In this showroom, he displayed, other than his own pieces, the work of Gilbert Poillerat, Jean Bazaine, Raoul Dufy, Lurçat, Rouault and Ubac, all of these being accomplices and friends who followed him troughout his career.�

It would be too tiresome to number all the different installations realized by Jacques Quinet owing ti his enormous participation in decorative arrangements and his many creations.

Nevertheless we must note several arrangements and decorations for different public buildings, both state owned and privatly owned.�

In 1950-1952 and again in 1957 he realized different suites of furniture for "Le Mobilier National" and for the Ministry of Education.

Other realizations were a private residence for the founder of the SNCF René Mayer, the decoration of the ocean liner "La Bourdonnais" where in 1953 he created a style which was modern, luxurious, harmonious, simple and pratical. The decoration for the liner "France" in 1961 and then the interior architecture for the office of the direction of the "Aquitaine Chimie" society in Paris in 1957.�

Add to these realizations the many suites of furniture ordered by different Town Halls ("Martigues, Port-de-Bouc, Corsica, Strasbourg") and company head offices ("Les Potasses d'Alsace, Krema, Larousse, Air France, Pampryl, Evian, l'Union, l'Hotel Plaza Athénée and Institut Pasteur").�

The work of Jacques Quinet lasted over five decades and therefore passed through several periods of change when influences and tendencys intermingled.

After the war, the division between mass production furniture and traditional production influenced all the discussions and choices made by the artists. Quinet decided that he would choose the traditional way and therefore positioned alongside the Decoratif Artists Society and the important names such as Leleu, Arbus, Süe and Mare, Adnet or Pascaud.

These artists worked to create a french style, a definately modern, simple, neo-classical form, influenced by the Louis XVI style.

Jacques Quinet's own style which was characterized by the simplicity of its forms became more geometrical and the structure and volume became lighter. This style reached it's summit in the 1950's. His architectural design was of strict and simple neo-classical form.�

For his furniture, he frequently used bronze simply as ornamentation but later it bacame the main element of the design.

One can equally underline, as remarked by his laquered furniture, his talent as a colourist.