Code: 6082
Dimensions:
A beautiful mid 20th century French oil on canvas depicting booksellers on the banks of the Seine in Paris, with Notre Dame cathedral beyond, by Emile Blondel.
This charming and well painted work is signed lower right and dated 1955. Presented in a painted and carved wood Montparnasse frame.
Artist: Emile Blondel (French, 1893-1970)
Title: Booksellers at Notre Dame
Medium: OIl on canvas
Size: 24.5 x 28 inches (62 x 72 cm) including the frame
Emile Blondel was born on August 6, 1893 in Le Havre, France. Coming from a large family, he had to start working at the age of six. By 16 he was a ship’s boy on board a fishing boat off the coast of Newfoundland. He then worked unloading the ships at the quays of Le Havre, and became the pilot of the port before settling in St-Denis in 1925 and becoming a bus driver.
At this point Blondel began to paint in oils, even though he had painted with watercolors from a very early age. But he did not dedicate himself exclusively to painting until he went into retirement in 1950.
Blondel’s paintings show the modest suburban houses with their little patches of garden and crowds of small figures. In 1950, he had his first solo exhibition in Paris, at the Galérie Cambacérès, and in New York. He had another solo exhibition in Paris in 1953, at the Galérie Conti; in 1955, at the Galérie Cambacérès and in 1953 in Le Havre. His work is in museums in Le Havre, Nice and Paris.
Blondel died in 1970 in Pavillions-sous-Bois, France.
