Biography from Odon Wagner Gallery & Odon Wagner Contemporary:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
Antoine Blanchard was born in France on November 15, 1910 in a small
village near the banks of the Loire. He was the eldest of three
children and his father, a carver, managed a small carpentry and
furniture shop. Antoine would watch his father hand carve the
furniture and began to display an artistic flair early in life - in an
effort to promote this talent, his parents sent him to Blois for
drawing lessons. He continued his training in Rennes at the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts where he studied sculpture and drawing. Upon
completion of his studies, he was awarded the schools highest award: Le
Prix du Ministre.
By 1932 he left Rennes and traveled to Paris
to study. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and after a few
years entered the competition for the Prix de Rome. It was in
Paris that he developed a love for the city and it's street life.
In
1939 Antoine married a young woman he met in Paris, and in September of
that year war broke out and he was called up for service. It was
not until 1942 that he would return to his art.
His daughter Nicole was born in 1944 - she too would follow in the
family tradition and after the birth of her two daughters, she became
an artist working under the name A. Champeau. It was also around
this time that Antoine's father passed away, and he was compelled to
return to his hometown and run the family business - giving him little
time to paint.
His second daughter, Evelyn, was born in 1947,
and by 1948, he had given control of the family business to his younger
brother and returned to Paris to paint. Contemporary life in
Paris had changed, and he longed for the bygone days. He began to
research the Belle Époque period in Paris - reading and studying all
the material on the period he could find.
Many of the subjects
and scenes he portrayed were taken from images he collected of Paris
during the 1890's, and he would often work on paintings for days or
months before he finally felt they were complete. A.P. Larde
comments in his book Antoine Blanchard, His Life His Work that
he has always spent much time on his work: This explains why his
production has always been rather limited, unlike the hurried and
multiple proliferations of some modern artists… Delicate touches of
luminous and shimmering tones produce a marvelous impression of
harmony, brightness and light. Alternate shadings and lights,
sensitive and mellow blending allow the artist to attain a hardly-ever
reached degree of grace, of radiant and glimmering freshness.
Larde
continues to write that his works are first of all, a marvelous
invitation to an ideal walk through old Paris, so different from that
of today. Although a large number of historical monuments remain,
today's Paris has little in common with Paris at the turn of the
century; the scenery may be almost the same, but daily life as it
characters has totally changed; the customs have been entirely
transformed. In his paintings, Antoine Blanchard invites us to
relive this period by showing us pleasant strolls along embankments,
squares and boulevards at a period in Parisian life when time did not
count, when one had all one's time to idle, to stroll along the
streets, to window-shop, to walk quietly along the boulevards or spend
the afternoon in a sidewalk café.
Like his contemporary, Édouard
Cortès, he devoted his artistic career to the depiction of Paris
through all its daily and seasonal changes. But he was not an
imitator of Cortes, but rather depicted the life of Paris at the turn
of the century from his own point of view and with his own, unique
style. Larde makes an interesting comparison:
Édouard Cortès
has always expressed himself in a rather rich virile style, using large
and stressed touches, revealing a strength, which recalls the great
masters of the XVIIIth century.
On the contrary, Antoine
Blanchard has always used small strokes, with a delicate, enveloping
and mellow treatment; the slight haziness which is a characteristic of
his work in many ways recalls the great masters of the impressionist
period.
Whether it was l'Arc de Triomphe, la Madeleine, Café de
la Paix, Notre Dame or the dozens of other historical monuments and
buildings of Paris, his focus was on the daily life of Paris at the
turn of the century.
His work became highly sought after and collectors from around the
world vied to acquire his new works. Today he is considered one of the
leading exponents of the School of Paris painters.
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Biography from POCOCK Fine Art & Antiques:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 Antoine Blanchard is a Paris School painter who, like many of his contemporaries, specialized in depicting luminous Parisian street scenes. As an artist who loved Paris, he exclusively depicted the city in its
golden age, the turn of the century Belle Epoque. A prolific artist, he did work that was well received by local collectors as well as the
numerous visitors who flocked to Paris following WWII and the second
half of the 20th Century.
Following academic exposure to the arts in Rennes where he was awarded the provincial award “Le Prix du Ministre,” Blanchard continued his studies in Paris at the Ecole des Beax Arts. He competed and was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome.
Source:
E. Bénezit, Gründ Publishing, 2006. Davenport's Art Reference and Price Guide, LTB Gordonsart, Inc., 2007. Pocock Fine Art & Antiques website © 2009 (www.pocockfineart.com), with permission.
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