Jacques-Émile Blanche (1861 – 1942) was a French artist, largely self-taught, who became a successful portrait painter and worked in London and Paris.
His father was a successful psychiatrist who ran a clinic where many of Blanche’s sitters were his patients.
As he grew up, he met many notable artists and apart from some instruction in painting from Henri Gervex and Ferdinand Humbert, he had no formal training and can be considered self-taught.
Jacques-Émile Blanche became a successful portrait painter and was influenced by 18th century painters Édouard Manet and John Singer Sargent.
He worked in London and Paris and was a friend of Marcel Proust, whom he helped to publish several editions.
In 1902 he took over the direction of the Académie de La Palette, where he remained director until 1911 and died at home on 30 September 1942.
