A Parisian scene in front of Le Cafe de la Paix and the Paris Opera. Oil on canvas, framed, 18" x 21-1/4", with framing overall 23-3/4" x 26-3/4". On display in the Pittsburgh PA gallery.
As a boy Blanchard was determined to become an artist and loved to paint scenes of his native village and surrounding countryside. Anxious to promote the development and full flowering of his gifts, his parents sent him to Blois for drawing lessons. They then sent him to Rennes, the chief city of Brittany, to attend the classes of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Three years of steady work there further developed his skill in drawing, so evident today in the accuracy of each line in his canvases. In 1932 Blanchard left Rennes to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After four years there he had acquired such a mastery of technique that he was chosen to enter the competition for the important Prix de Rome. It was also at this time that Antoine Blanchard discovered a particular interest in painting scenes of the Parisian streets, the canvases which have merited his place in the affections of American and Canadian collectors, as well as those of England, Germany, and his native France. Imaginative artist, refined colorist in love with light, Antoine Blanchard possessed a remarkable skill for creating the atmosphere of a street scene. Though he is considered a contemporary artist, he painted the Paris of 1900 and through his paintings revived a period full of charm.
5,000/7,000 Sold $7,187.50
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