CARL J. BLENNER

Carl Blenner achieved enduring success as a society portraitist and floral still-life painter, as a result of his precocious talent and exceptional training.

Blenner was born in 1864 in Richmond, Virginia. He was educated at Marburg, Germany and graduated from Yale University Art School. Blenner studied for six years at the Academie Julien in Paris, under Bougereau, Robert-Fleury and Aman-Jean. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1887. Beginning in the 1890’s Blenner maintained a studio in New York City where he remained for more than fifty years.

As a society portraitist, Blenner was in great demand painting society’s elite. He turned to still-life studies of flowers probably around 1915. His florals reflect his superb training. His own sense of textures and his superior use of pigment in the service of light create unlabored representations that reveal the flowers’ essence.