María Blanchard (Spanish, 1881-1932) La femme en vert, 1924 Pastel on paper 23-5/8 x 19-1/4 inches (59.9 x 48.9 cm) (sight) Signed lower left: M BLANCHARD PROVENANCE: Jean Delgouffre; M. Eduard des Courrières, Paris; Private collection, Spain; Private collection, Austria. EXHIBITED: Musée municipal de l'évêché, "Hommage a María Blanchard," 1965, no. 25. LITERATURE: A. Campoy, María Blanchard, Madrid, 1981, p. 112; L. Caffin, María Blanchard, vol. II, Paris, 1994, p. 278, illustrated; M. José Salazar, María Blanchard. Catálogo razonado. Pintura 1889-1932, Madrid, 2004, pp. 378-9, no. 169, illustrated, as Joven con turbante verde/Mujer verde. María Blanchard was the first woman in Spain to adopt Cubism, and her exploration of fragmentation and multiple perspectives made her a significant contributor to the modern movement. Rather than treating Cubism as purely formal experimentation, she transformed its fractured structures into a controlled and expressive visual language, grounded in technical mastery and recognized by her contemporaries. She extended Cubist principles into a more personal idiom, particularly in her depictions of mothers and children, domestic interiors, and working women. In these works, geometric structuring is combined with recognizable figures, using distortion and compositional balance to emphasize emotional tension and human fragility. Born in Santander in 1881, the same year as Pablo Picasso, Blanchard later moved to Paris, where both artists remained, in different ways, outsiders within the avant-garde. She lived with severe physical deformities that affected her mobility and made her the target of ridicule in childhood. These experiences shaped her artistic vision, leading her to use painting as a means of expressing isolation and emotional depth—qualities that would come to define her work. Blanchard initially trained in Madrid within an academic tradition, producing conventional portraits. Her first trip to Paris in 1909, however, marked a decisive turning point. There, she encountered the avant-garde and formed connections with artists such as Juan Gris, Picasso, Diego Rivera, Vicente Huidobro, and Marie Vassilieff, immersing herself in the ideas that shaped Cubism. A pivotal moment in her career came in 1915, when she participated in Los pintores íntegros in Madrid, one of Spain's first Cubist exhibitions. The show was shut down after only ten days and met with harsh, often misogynistic criticism because Cubism was regarded as a heroic masculine style and by working in the idiom, she was considered transgressive. Disillusioned with the Spanish art scene, she relocated permanently to Paris and adopted her mother's surname, "Blanchard," signaling a new artistic identity. There, she aligned herself with Cubism while developing a distinctive style marked by balanced, interlocking geometric forms that favored clarity over extreme fragmentation. In the 1920s, her work evolved into a Post-Cubist style that reintroduced the human figure. Focusing on women and domestic life, and often rendered in evocative pastel, works such as La femme en vert (Woman in green, 1924) combine Cubist structure with influences from Spanish, French, and Flemish traditions. Fragmented outlines and concentric color shifts animate the figure, creating a subtle doubling effect that suggests multiple perspectives characteristic of Cubism. While her figures retain a sense of solidity, subtle distortions introduce a psychological complexity that sets them apart. Although long marginalized within a male-dominated art historical narrative, Blanchard is now recognized as a major figure in modern art. Her work not only introduced Cubism to Spain but also reshaped it into a deeply personal and emotionally resonant form. HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

Musée municipal de l'évêché, "Hommage a María Blanchard," 1965, no. 25.

Jean Delgouffre; M. Eduard des Courrières, Paris; Private collection, Spain; Private collection, Austria.

Scattered spots of foxing. Creasing in upper right corner of sheet.
Under UV: some pigments fluoresce orange. Framed under glass.
Framed Dimensions 32 X 27.75 Inches