Ménard was the son of René Joseph Ménard and the nephew of Louis Ménard. He was a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Institut des Beaux-Arts, and the Groupe de la Bande Noire which formed around Cottet.
His paintings were in small format. His landscapes were notable for the individuality of their outline and their use of a warm golden colour; he also produced portraits with great intensity of expression, similar to that of Louis Ménard. Later, his style broadened; six canvases shown at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1899 affirmed his talents as a set designer ( Evening Harmony, Ancient Earth, View over the Sea, Moonrise, Causse Méjéan and Calm Sea). He recreated a dream-like antiquity, seeking to evoke his subject rather than to represent it.
Ménard began exhibiting his work at the Salon des Artistes Français of 1883 in Paris. He won a third-class medal in 1889, and was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1900 and an Officier in 1910.
Museum and Gallery Holdings
Antwerp: Nightfall
Brussels: The Artists’s Mother
Helsinki: Causse Méjéan; Dusk
Luxembourg: Portrait of Louis Ménard
Munich: Stormy Weather
Stockholm: Solitude; River; Sunset