New York Gallery Uncovers Auction Fraud, Prompting Catalogue Raisonné For French Painter Antoine Blanchard

The world’s leading dealer of artwork by Antoine Blanchard, best known for his glimmering Parisian street scenes, has completed an updated catalogue raisonné for the mysterious French painter.

Rehs Galleries of New York, regarded among the world’s top dealers of 19th -and early 20th-century European paintings, embarked on the project in 2007 after discovering that nearly 80% of the works offered at auction under the name Antoine Blanchard were not painted by the man born in 1910 Marcel Masson in a small village near the banks of the Loire.

Works by Blanchard, who died in 1988, were so popular during his lifetime that galleries and dealers commissioned other artists to paint similar scenes and sign them “Antoine Blanchard,” according to Amy Rehs. Even one of Blanchard’s primary dealers sold works by some of these other artists, Rehs said, underscoring the gallery’s commitment to correcting art history.

Blanchard’s painstaking attention to detail hindered his ability to keep up with market demand. His lively narratives of life in bustling Paris where fashionable denizens gather, mingle, and engage in culture and commerce, dance with complex plays of light that illuminate a city that captivates the world.

“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,” A.P. Larde wrote in the book Antoine Blanchard. His Life His Work, “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, radiant and glimmering freshness.”

Like his contemporary, Edouard Cortès (1882–1969), Blanchard devoted his artistic career to depicting Paris through daily and seasonal changes. Rather than mimic Cortes, Blanchard portrayed Parisian life at the turn of the century, using his singular style.

“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,” Larde wrote. “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.”

Many of Blanchard’s subjects and scenes were inspired by images he collected of Paris during the 1890s, and he often worked on paintings for days or months. Blanchard’s intricate paintings of Parisian monuments and landmarks such as l’Arc de Triomphe, la Madeleine, Café de la Paix, and Notre Dame, engaged collectors from all over the world.

Amy and Howard Rehs were able to create the first comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known works by Blanchard, weeding out the fakes, but the artist himself remains elusive.

“It was in the late 1950s that the artist became completely immersed in capturing views of Paris during the late 19th century, a subject matter he would continue with until he died in 1988,” said Amy Rehs. “It also appears that this was the same period when he started using the pseudonym Antoine Blanchard, though it is still unknown why.”