María Blanchard

María Blanchard
Photo of María Blanchard teaching
Born	6 March 1881 Santander, Spain
Died	April 5, 1932(1932-04-05) (aged 51) Paris, France
Nationality	Spanish
Known for	Painting

María Blanchard (6 March 1881 – 5 April 1932), born María Gutiérrez Cueto, was a Spanish painter. She was known for developing a unique style of Cubism.

Blanchard was born on 6 March 1881 in Santander, Spain. She was the daughter of journalist Enrique Gutiérrez Cueto and Concepción Blanchard Santisteban. She was the cousin of Mexican artist Germán Cueto.

She was born with several physical deformities, including a deformed spine, which some attributed to Blanchard's mother's fall during her pregnancy. Blanchard was born with kyphosoliosis and bilateral hip disarticulation. Her growth was stunted and she walked with a limp, causing her to be teased at school and nicknamed "the witch,". The emotional pain this caused can be seen in many of her artworks' themes. Blanchard turned to painting to express her sadness. Her father was a large influence in her life, encouraging her to draw.

In 1903, she moved to Madrid and studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando under Spanish artists such as Emilio Sala and Manuel Benedito. Sala taught Blanchard "precision" and the "exuberant use of colour," which would feature in her early compositions. In 1908, after Blanchard won a third prize for her painting Primeros pasostathe Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, the Santander government awarded her a grant to support her education in the arts. In 1909, this grant allowed her to continue her artistic education at the Academie Vitti in Paris under Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa and Kees van Dongen. Here she discovered cubist painting, and was influenced by Jacques Lipchitz and Juan Gris. In 1914, due to the First World War, Blanchard left Paris returned to Madrid. She shared a studio in her mother's house with some of the artist's she met in Paris In 1915, her art was displayed in an exhibition organized by Ramón Gómez de la Serna at the Museo de Arte Moderno (Madrid). She was contacted to teach art in Salamanca (Madrid), but was disappointed by the experience and ultimately moved back to Paris.