Francis Blanchard (France) began his career as an international civil servant in 1947 when, at age thirty-one, he joined the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). Blanchard remained at the IRO until it ceased to function and was actively involved in setting up its two successor bodies, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. In 1951 he joined the International Labour Organization (ILO). As Director-General, Blanchard worked hard to spread the word of the ILO as widely as possible and to expand its activities to the lay sector. He retired from the ILO in 1986 after thirty-eight years of service.
ILO general director Juan Somavia subsequently commissioned Christian Boltanski to make a portrait of Blanchard, the dynamic figure who established the profile of the ILO as it is known today. This portrait is slated to hang in the Organization’s Athens’ offices.