Antoine Blanchard
(1910-1989)

Antoine Blanchard was born in 1910, in a small village near Blois. Blanchard was encouraged by his parents to enter the arts at a young age. They sent him as a boy to an art school in Blois. The family then moved to Rennes so Blanchard could study at the Beaux Arts Academy. In 1932, after three years in study, Blanchard moved to Paris to attend the Beaux Arts Academy of Paris to further his education. Upon completion of his studies, Blanchard was awarded the Prix de Rome.

In the following years, Blanchard favored the styles of Eugene Galien- Laloue and Edouard Cortes. It was this subject; the wet streets of Paris, that Blanchard would develop his very individual style around. Although he painted the same subject as Cortes and Laloue, Blanchard introduced a much lighter palette and a completely different brush stroke. He has shared a great deal of criticism and acclaim from collectors and critics but that is the nature of his profession. The greatest of painters received both acclaim and criticism.

Suffering a leg injury late in life, Antoine Blanchard was unable to paint for the last few years of his life and died in Paris in 1989.