Florane (louis Blanchard, Known As) (1869–1939) “the Old Dovecote” Pastel

Florane (Louis Blanchard, known as) (1869–1939)
“Le Vieux Pigeonnier”
Pastel on cardboard, signed lower left (32x23)
Signature barely visible
Framed under glass, 35x26

- €320 -

Louis Marie Émile Blanchard, known as Florane, born on May 8, 1869, in Castanet-Tolosan and died on October 17, 1939, in Montvicq, was a French painter, draftsman, and illustrator. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse.
Between 1901 and 1910, he was in Paris, where he made a name for himself as an illustrator for *Le Rire*,
*L’Assiette au beurre*, *La Caricature*, *Le Frou-frou*, *Sans-Gêne*, Le Témoin, Le Continental, and Les Temps nouveaux, and designed the covers for several issues of *Gil Blas illustré*… During this period, he became friends with Charles Léandre, Steinlen, and Toulouse-Lautrec.
During World War I, Florane was drafted as a nurse in the Allier department, serving in Lavault-Sainte-Anne, and after 1918, he taught drawing in Montluçon.
In 1926, he contributed six color illustrations to *Paris-Noël*. He also reconnected with former participants of the *Salon des humoristes*, where he had exhibited in 1912 and had been noticed by Guillaume Apollinaire. His paintings were then featured at the Salon des Artistes Français: in 1935, his painting *Village Cabaret* was purchased by the government for the Montluçon Museum. During his many travels, Florane also painted landscapes of Touraine, Brittany, Provence, and the French Riviera, as well as Tuscany and Umbria in 1931, and Naples…

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