Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

María Blanchard: A Painter in Spite of Cubism

María Blanchard, The Fortune-Teller, 1924–25.

Apr 29 – Sept 28, 2024
Pl. de la Merced, 15, 29012 Málaga, Spain

María Blanchard was born in Santander, Spain, in the same year as Pablo Picasso—1881. She came into life with a deformed spine and a disarticulated hip, which caused her to limp. At school, cruel classmates called her “the witch.” She turned to art for solace. In 1909, Blanchard moved to Paris to study at the Academie Vitti; there she discovered Cubism and was influenced by Juan Gris and Jacques Lipchitz. In 1916, she settled in Paris permanently. Despite the fact that Blanchard was the first woman Cubist painter, she was comparatively unknown in 1932, when she died at 51. This monographic exhibition in Malaga surveys the phases of a quiet yet trailblazing career. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Studio Monique Bernaz, Geneva