27 - Jacques-Emile BLANCHE (Paris 1861 – Offranville 1942)

Jacques-Emile BLANCHE (Paris 1861 – Offranville 1942) Wanda Zeilinska, known as “Pouponne au panier,” 1892 Oil on canvas 130.5 x 66 cm Signed and dated lower right: J. E. Blanche 92 Provenance: Mr. Périé, Bordeaux Mr. Raymond Belly, Bordeaux Richard Green Gallery, London Christie’s, New York, May 22, 1997, lot 128 Christie’s, New York, April 23, 2002, lot 28 Christie’s, London, December 3, 2003, lot 20 Christie’s London South Kensington, May 31, 2012, lot 72 Guy Stair Sainty Gallery, London Exhibitions: 43rd Exhibition of the Société des Amis des Arts, Bordeaux, 1895, probably no. 53 Bibliography: Jane Roberts, Online Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Jacques Emile Blanche, no. 250 This lot is being presented as a temporary import. This lot will be sold under the general VAT regime (at a rate of 5.5% of the total price). This is the first in a series of paintings depicting the young Wanda Zielinska, nicknamed “La Pouponne,” created by Blanche, who—like Désirée Manfred and Lucie Esnault— also painted them when they were children and continued to depict them through their adolescence and into adulthood. Other paintings of Wanda are on display at the Caen Museum of Fine Arts and the Blanche Museum in Offranville, as well as in two private collections. Here, Wanda, aged six or seven, is dressed fashionably for a special occasion, in a white dress and an extravagant hat. She is holding a small white basket, her fingers barely visible as they peek out from her white muslin gloves. The painting is a symphony of whites, contrasting with the sketchily rendered garden setting, while her face and the ribbon from her hat that falls to her knees are rendered in delicate shades of pink. It is dated 1892, a time when clothing was designed to preserve modesty rather than for comfort, and the young girl perhaps seems a little bored and uncomfortable as she waits for the posing session to end. Wanda later became a talented violinist and cellist, often accompanying her sister, Hélène, who was renowned for her performances on the chromatic harp.