1861 -1942 · Paris, Dieppe, Offranville and Belle Époque

Writers, musicians, painters and social figures find in Jacques-Émile Blanche portraits that are both elegant and psychological, true sensitive archives of the Belle Époque and the interwar period.

Jacques-Émile Blanche was born in Paris in 1861. Son of the alienist doctor Émile Blanche, he grew up in Auteuil and Dieppe in an environment frequented by the arts, letters and high society. His tutor Edmond Maître put him in contact very early with Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour and Claude Monet. Blanche was trained largely through observation, meetings and some workshop advice rather than through a long academic career. In his early days, the example of Manet and Whistler encouraged him to simplify the funds, to thrill black people and to grasp the immediate presence of the model. In his early days, the example of Manet and Whistler encouraged him to simplify the backgrounds, to thrill black people and to grasp the immediate presence of the model. In his early days, the example of Manet and Whistler encouraged him to simplify the backgrounds, to thrill black people and to grasp the immediate presence of the model. In his early days, the example of Manet and Whistler encouraged him to simplify the backgrounds, to thrill black people and to grasp the immediate presence of the model. In his early days, the example of Manet and Whistler encouraged him to simplify the backgrounds, to thr writers, musicians and artists allowed him to go beyond the codes of official commission: clothing, pose, decor and light reveal a personality as much as a social rank. The Portrait of Marcel Proust, painted in 1892 after their meeting in Trouville, shows the writer at twenty-one, still a social chronicler. The pale face, the white breastplate and the orchid emerge from a dark background with an elegance which already seems to announce the Proustian universe. Blanche simultaneously pursues a work of painter-writer, publishing memories, essays and literary portraits. Installed in Offranville in 1902, he received many personalities at the Manoir du Tôt and made the Normandy coast a place work and sociability. The Group of Six, painted in 1922, brings together five of the six composers around the pianist Marcelle Meyer, with Jean Cocteau and Jean Wiener; Louis Durey is absent. The painting does not just align similarities: poses, levels and looks give a collective image of post-war musical modernity. Blanche painted for nearly sixty years, from portraits to still lifes, genre scenes and seascapes. Died in Offranville in 1942, he also leaves letters, photographs and writings which make his work an irreplaceable chronicle of his time. Blanche painted for nearly sixty years, from portraits to still lifes, genre scenes and seascapes. Died in Offranville in 1942, he also leaves letters, photographs and writings which make his work an irreplaceable chronicle of his time. The "Jacques-Émile Blanche" selection notably compares Le Groupe des Six and Portrait de Marcel Proust. Its reading favors the story.

Blanche paints a society from the inside: elegance first catches the eye, then a face, pose or silence reveals character.