Watercolor Countryside Landscape (1924) - Maurice Blanchard (1903-1969)

Watercolor on paper, signed lower right by Maurice Blanchard (1903-1969) and dated 1924, depicting a countryside landscape. Dimensions: 31 x 24.5 cm. Maurice Félicien Jules Paul Blanchard, born January 14, 1903, in Paris, where he died on December 31, 1969, was a French painter. He exhibited in 1922-1923 with the Groupement de la Chimère, then from 1926 onward at the Salon des Indépendants, the Peintres du Cirque, the Exposition des Beaux-Arts d'Agen (1927), and the Salon des Arts Indépendants (1928). Two distinct periods emerge in his work: a period quite close to the Nabis, and then, after the Second World War, a naive and highly colorful period. Blanchard lived until 1947 at 58 rue Caulaincourt, then at 13 place du Tertre with his third partner, Ginette Mussel. After the war, he exhibited frequently in Sweden. In 1949, he participated in the exhibition organized by Maurice Féaudierre at the Verseau de Montmartre with the painters Boyer, Raoul Dufy, Gen Paul, Clavé, and d'Esparbès. The Galerie Alexandre also exhibited his work in 1953 alongside Picasso, Gen Paul, Naly, Brayer, and d'Esparbès. Between 1963 and 1969, he exhibited several times at Pierre Labric's "Salon de Toile." Fred Bretonnière, the owner of Le Grenier on Rue du Mont-Cenis, commissioned him to create painted plates, some of which were presented to the winners of the Tour de France stages in 1965.