BIOGRAPHY - Antoine Blanchard (1910 - 1988)

Antoine Blanchard, whose real name was Marcel Masson, 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. 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. His parents sent him to Blois for drawing lessons to foster this talent. He continued his training in Rennes at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied sculpture and drawing. Upon completing his studies, he was awarded the school's highest award, the Prix du Ministre.

By 1932, Blanchard 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 its street life.

In 1939, Blanchard married a young woman he met in Paris. The Second World War broke out in September of that year, and he was called up for military service. It was not until 1942 that he would return to his art. His daughter Nicole was born in 1944 and would later follow in her father's footsteps working as an artist under the name A. Champeau. Around the time Nicole was born, Blanchard’s father passed away. This compelled him to return to his hometown and run the family carpentry business, giving him little time to paint.

Blanchard's second daughter, Evelyn, was born in 1947. By 1948, he had given his younger brother control of the family business, allowing him to return to Paris to paint. By the time Blanchard returned to Paris, the city had changed. Blanchard longed for the bygone days, particularly the Belle Époque period (about 1871 to 1914). Blanchard began reading and studying all the material on the period he could find.

Many of the subjects and scenes Blanchard portrayed were taken from images from photographs and postcards created in the 1890s. He would often work on paintings for days or months before he finally felt they were complete. Mrs. Paule Larde comments in her 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 to-day. 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, Edouard Cortès (1882 - 1969), he devoted his artistic career to the depiction of Paris through all its daily and seasonal changes. But while both painters used the same Paris landmarks as subjects, Blanchard was not an imitator of Cortès. Cortès painted Paris as it existed in his own lifetime. Blanchard, on the other hand, depicted a Paris that had not existed for decades. His works show the city at the turn of the century in a unique style distinct from Cortès. Larde makes an interesting comparison: "Edouard 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 Arc de Triomphe, Boulevard de la Madeleine, Café de la Paix, Notre Dame, or the dozens of other historical monuments and buildings of Paris, his focus was on the city's daily life at the turn of the century. His work became highly sought after, with collectors from around the world vying to acquire new works. Blanchard continued to paint until his death on August 10, 1988.

We wish to thank H. Arnot Gallery for the photo of Antoine Blanchard which was taken by Mr. Arnot in 1959