The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (56 page)

 
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(1600–38).
French painter, active mainly in his native Paris. He studied in Italy (1624–8) and his style reflects both
Baroque
developments in Rome and the sensuous richness of the Venetian school. Back in France he gained a reputation for decorative work, but is now known chiefly as a painter of small religious and mythological subjects in a sensitive but sentimental manner (
Charity
, Courtauld Inst., London, 1637).

 
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(1861–1942).
French painter. The son of Émile Blanche , a noted pathologist, he grew up in a cultured atmosphere and became a well-known figure in artistic and society circles—he was a friend of
Degas
,
Renoir
,
Whistler
, the writers Henry James and Marcel Proust , and many other celebrities. His best-known works are stylish portraits of people from this milieu; the finest collection is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts at Rouen, and there are several examples in the Tate Gallery, London. Blanche lived mainly at Offranville, near the Channel port of Dieppe (the local church has decorative painting by him), and he was a frequent visitor to Britain, painting numerous views of London (the Tate has an example). He wrote several books of criticism and reminiscence.

 
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Blaue Reiter, Der
(The Blue Rider)
.

A loose association of German
Expressionist
artists formed in Munich in 1911 as a splinter group from the
Neue Künstlervereinigung
. The name, deriving from the title of a picture by
Kandinsky
, was also used as the title of an ‘Almanac’ (a collection of essays and illustrations) published by Kandinsky and Franz
Marc
in 1912. The members of the group (who included
Klee
and
Macke
) differed widely in their artistic outlooks, but they were linked by a desire to express spiritual values in their work. They held two touring exhibitions (1911 and 1912) that brought the work of Der Blaue Reiter to several major cities of Germany, and the association had international affiliations;
Braque
,
Derain
,
Goncharova
,
Larionov
, and
Picasso
were among those whose works were shown in the exhibitions. With the outbreak of the First World War the group disintegrated, but its short life is considered to mark the high point of German Expressionism.

 
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Blaue Vier, Die
(The Blue Four)
.

A group of four painters formed in 1924 by
Kandinsky
,
Jawlensky
,
Klee
, and
Feininger
in succession to the
Blaue Reiter
, with which they had all been associated. The members were united by a desire to publicize their work and ideas through exhibiting together rather than by stylistic similarity. Exhibitions were held in Germany, the USA, and Mexico between 1925 and 1934. Their patroness, Galka Scheyer, who suggested the formation of the group, formed a large collection of their work, which is now in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.

 
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(
c.
1500/10–after 1550).
Netherlandish painter of landscapes with figures. He is an enigmatic figure presumed to be one and the same as the Herri Patenier who entered the Antwerp Guild in 1535. Herri met de Bles, as van
Mander
informs us, is simply a nickname meaning ‘Herri with the white forelock’, and it is generally assumed that he was a relation of Joachim
Patenier
, who certainly had a decisive influence on his work. No signed or documented work by Herri exists, but a small group of distinctive works has been ascribed to him, characterized by panoramic landscapes dominating the figure groups in the manner of Patenier. His work was popular with Italian collectors, who called him ‘Civetta’ (little owl) because he often included owls in his pictures.