Jacques-Émile Blanche

Blanche's wealthy parents built a large house in Auteuil in 1871; the family moved in two years later.  As the only son, Blanche inherited the estate in 1895 including an impressive number of artwork, antiques, and various objets d'art. While his father somewhat casually built a collection (which included masterworks by Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot), Blanche had a true connoisseur's eye in selecting the best art work, fine Louis XV furniture, Chinese porcelain and coromandel screens to decorate his home and studio.  A number of the artist's most treasured objects are frequent features in his paintings.  The lacquer screen set behind a striped-upholstered chaise lounge in the present work, a view of his salon at Auteuil, reappears in his paintings of members of the Ballet Russes, such as his celebrated portrait of Vaslav Nijinksky and Ida Rubinstein (Sale: Sotheby's, London, October 7, 1998, lot 138, illustrated). As with his portrait paintings, the source of much of Blanche's fame and personal fortune, the still-life compositions evocatively record the fashionable world in which he lived.  Though the objects in The Artist's Salon at Auteuil  (painted circa 1909-1910) appear to be casually arranged within the picture space, Blanche most likely carefully chose each piece of porcelain or pillow for ideal aesthetic affect.  Indeed, the loose brushwork and subdued coloring of the present work are reminiscent of Edouard Manet's style, and actively describe the evident appeal of the "modern" artist's life and its trappings.