Biography from Anderson Galleries, Inc.:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
Jacques-Émile Blanche was born in Paris in 1861. His own origins
were respectable and bourgeois; he was the son of an eminent
pathologist and enjoyed an excellent cosmopolitan education.
Blanche was brought up at Passy in a house once belonging to the
Princesse de Lamballe. The elegant atmosphere of the home
influenced his artistic taste due to its atmosphere of 18th century
refinement.
Blanche studied with Gervex and Fernand Humbert as
well as spent time in studios of Manet and Degas. The quality of
his flat surfaces, the precious grays and silvery light effect causes
Jacques-Emile Blanche to be compared more with Manet, whom he admired,
than with the Impressionists, with whom he was compared in terms of his
early works. Nevertheless, his outdoor backgrounds with traces of
vivid colors do have something in common with them.
Blanche's
talents as a painter of still life, portraits, landscapes, beach scenes
and the occasional incident from everyday life, earned him considerable
wealth and a prominent place in the art world of his time. His
friends and social acquaintance ranged from the avant-garde to the
upper bourgeoisie and he moved with ease from one group to the
other. His many portraits are evidence of the range of his
connections and the broad recognition of his talent, including not only
Jean Cocteau but others among the most famous French writers of the
early years of the century. He acquired a great reputation as a
portrait painter. His art is derived from French and English
Sources include: refined, elegant, and full of character.
From the early
1880s he was a frequent visitor to London, where he worked with
Whistler and Sickert. A regular exhibitor at the Salon of the
National Society of Fine Arts from 1890, he also frequently exhibited
in London at the Leicester Galleries and was given a monographic show
at the National Gallery, a rare distinction for a living painter.
Blanche
exhibited in Paris throughout his life, as well- winning a gold metal
at the Exposition Legion d’Honneur in 1900 and the Salon des Tuleries
in 1933. Blanche exhibited at the Salon from 1882 to 1889 and at the
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1890. In 1884, together with Ary
Renan, he organized and exhibited at the first Salon des Indépendants
at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. This was an eclectic show of
Neo-Impressionist, Symbolist and other works.
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|