Maria Blanchard

Maria Blanchard (1881-1935) La tireuse de cartes signed 'M BLANCHARD' (lower left) oil on canvas laid down on board 35¼ x 45 5/8 in. (89.4 x 115.7 cm.) Painted in 1925 Acquired by the grandfather of the present owner and thence by descent. THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR The present work is related to the 1925 work of the same title located in the Petit-Palais, Geneva. To be included in the forthcoming supplement to the Maria Blanchard catalogue raisonné being prepared by Mrs Liliane Caffin-Madaule.

Measurements 43 3/4 by 30 1/4 in. alternate measurements 111.2 by 77 cm DESCRIPTION Painted circa 1917. Signed M. Blanchard (lower left) Oil on canvas The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by LilianeCaffin Madaule. PROVENANCE Galerie Philippe Reichenbach, HoustonPrivate Collection, acquired from the above in 1960Thence by descent to the present owners CATALOGUE NOTE María Blanchard first met Juan Gris in Montparnasse in 1915 andwithin a year quickly adopted the Cubist idiom in her pictoriallexicon. At that time Gris introduced Blanchard to the milieu ofPicasso, Braque, Metzinger, and others. However, it was LéonceRosenberg who, in 1916, recognized Blanchard's talent and securedher financial future. "He was one of the famous art dealers, such as Durand-Ruel,Vollard, Kahnweiler, etc. He either gave me monthly arrears, orbought my paintings in advance, i.e. virtually the totality of myproduction. Don't forget that I worked slowly. The American buyers,such as Gertrude Stein and her brother, or Germans like WilhelmUhde, Russians with Tchoukine, and the often omitted Zborowski,Modigliani and Soutine's dealer, or again the Swiss Herman Ruff,did not visit my studio, which my painter friends were cautious notto tell him: i.e.: Gris, Rivera, Picasso and even Lhote" (LilianeCaffin Madaule, Catalogue raisonné des oeuvres de MaríaBlanchard , France, 2007, p. 49). However, if Rosenberg provided the financial support thatBlanchard required, it was Juan Gris who proved to be her artisticand emotional devotee. Blanchard states of her relationship withGris, "During several years, our friendship was like the symbiosisof our cubist style. I owe him a lot, but I think I gave him someform of sensibility in his rigor. "I knew [Gris] mainly since my last trip in 1915 thanks toJacques (Lipchitz) who was a close friend of his. In 1918, webecame more intimate. Gris was handsome with his very dark hair andskin, and very rare eyes with the whites having a blue hue; hisstub nose, thick black eyebrows reinforced the welcoming glance ofhis eyes, and full reassuring lips were like an offering. He wassuccessful with Rivera, but unlike Rivera, he know how to hide it.Our complicity fulfilled me" (op cit ., p. 50). "1916: I painted mainly on canvas and I still do, but at thattime Gris convinced me to paint on plywood. 'It's more solid andcheaper,' he said (letter of June 11, 1916). I have to admit toadmiring his work and vocation as a cubist from which he neverswerved. People used to say that he had become a cubist as onewould become a monk – all of this affected me, my head spun to thegreat benefit of my painting!... His influence in 1917, 1918, and1919 was a determining factor for my painting" (op. cit ., p.51). Confident in her ability to refract her subject matter withkaleidoscopic results, Femme assise is a textbook example ofSynthetic Cubism. Painted during Blanchard's apex working in thatgenre, the present work depicts a woman seated on a rattan chair infront of carved wainscoting that envelops the sitter from fourangles, whose vanishing points careen off the canvas. The thickapplication of paint and dizzying geometric patterns contribute tothe success of the composition. Devoid of breasts or other visualcues, the figure's shoulder-length hair and repeated floral patternin her dress are the only attributes that evidence the sitter'ssex. Fig. 1 María Blanchard, Sois sage - Jeanne d'Arc, circa1916-1917, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre GeorgesPompidou

65.3 by 50.4cm., 25 3/4 by 19 7/8 in. DESCRIPTION Painted in 1924. signed M Blanchard (lower left) oil on canvas The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by LilianeCaffin Madaule. PROVENANCE Jean Grimar, BrusselsGaudy Collection, Brussels CATALOGUE NOTE In the early 1920s Maria Blanchard's style changed radically.Close to Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, and alreadyfamous for her poetic Cubist compositions, she decided to move awayfrom Cubism to a more expressive and figurative style. As shown in the present work she developed a very personalpalette with vivid contrasts between austere dark, metallic coloursand splashes of brilliant light. Drawing her inspiration from thepeople and children she met in the street, she never used a modeland painted her strong and powerful compositions frommemory.

María Blanchard (1881-1935) Fillette endormie signed 'M.BLANCHARD' (lower left) oil on canvas 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65 x 81 cm.) Painted circa 1925 Provenance Rafael Crespo, Buenos Aires. Oscar Ghez collection, Petit Palais, Geneva (no. 12443). Literature L. Caffin Madaule, Catalogue raisonné des oeuvres de María Blanchard, vol. I, London, 1992, p. 262 (illustrated). Exhibited Madrid, Museo Español de Arte Contemporaneo, María Blanchard, January - March 1982, no. 106 (illustrated in the catalogue p. 271).

MARÍA BLANCHARD 1881-1932 LA GOURMANDISE Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 159,200 GBP 116 by 73cm., 45 5/8 by 28 3/4 in. Painted in 1924. signed M. Blanchard (lower left) oil on canvas The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Liliane Caffin Madaule, who also provided assistance in the cataloguing of this work. Jean Delgouffre, Brussels (acquired from the artist in March 1924) Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner circa 1945 The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Liliane Caffin Madaule, who also provided assistance in the cataloguing of this work. PROVENANCE Jean Delgouffre, Brussels (acquired from the artist in March 1924) Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner circa 1945 EXHIBITED Brussels, Galerie du Centaure, Ceux de Demain, 1925 Paris, Jeu de Paume des Tuileries, L'art espagnol contemporain (peinture et sculpture), 1936, no. 25(4) LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Waldemar George, María Blanchard, Brussels, 1927, illustrated pl. 23 CATALOGUE NOTE In La gourmandise , Blanchard presents us with a festive scene, a small girl unable to resist the delights of tea time placed before her. Though she is alone, the table is heaving with sweet pastries, and Blanchard captures the unrestrained impulse of greediness described by the work's title, before the girl tucks into the food before her. The composition and palette is typical of Blanchard's Cubist-derived works of the 1920s, particularly under the influence of her fellow Spaniard Juan Gris. La gourmandise is part genre scene, part still life, with an emphasis on chromatic harmony and spatial construction. The girl, with her hair tied in a top knot, has her visual echo in the towering jelly to the right of the composition; the feast appears to overwhelm her physically. The painting was inspired by a photograph of Nicole Delgouffre (fig. 1), daughter of the collector Jean Delgouffre, Maria Blanchard's most important patron during the 1920s, and the first owner of this work. FIG. 1, Photograph of Nicole Delgouffre, daughter of the first owner of the present work Blanchard_3BKXP_comp.jpg