Pierre Ladureau (1882–1974) The Picadors: Bullfight 160 X 225

PierreLADUREAU
(Dunkirk1882 – Château-Thierry1974)
ThePicadors
Oilon canvas
H.160 cm; W. 225 cm (unframed)
Signedlower left.
Titledon the back of the stretcher. Numerous shipping labels andadmission labels from various art salons, admission numbers written inoil-based chalk.
1921

Provenance: Private collection in Avignon.

Exhibitions :

-1922, Salon of the SociétéNationale des Beaux-Arts, no. 574(room 22 or 23)

-1925, Montpellier Fine Arts Salon, No. 173

Bibliography :

-April 15, 1922, Comœdia,p. 2

-April 16, 1922, Ancienne Gazette des étrangers,p. 2

-April 24, 1922, Le Petit Journal, p. 2

-July 17, 1923, Grand écho du Nord de la France, reprinted on p. 1

-May 16, 1925, Hebdomadaire de la vie Intellectuelle et Mondaine(Montpellier), reprinted on p. 10

Trainedin Paris, notably at the École des Beaux-Arts and the AcadémieJulian under Jean-Paul Laurens, Pierre Ladureau developed abody of work focused on the depiction of landscapes, figures, andscenes from contemporary life. A regular participant in the major Parisiansalons—Artistes Français, Salon d’Automne, Salon desIndépendants—he developed a style of painting characterized by great freedom,attentive as much to observed reality as to theintrinsic qualities of the medium and composition.

Hisinterest in Spain and, more specifically, inbullfighting,constitutes one of the most distinctive bodies of work in his oeuvre.In Ladureau’s work, the bullfight is never reduced to aor a mere transcription of the event. Itbecomes a true pictorial motif,offering the painter an exceptional field for experimentation withmovement, light, the crowd, and the monumentality ofspace.

The arenafunctions as a pictorial architecture: its curves, its tiers, andits interplay of perspective structure the composition, while thematador and the bull introduce a dynamic tension at the heart ofthe image. The painter thus captures the bullfight in all itsprofoundly theatrical and ceremonial essence. The movement ofthe animal, the matador’s upright stance, the crowd’s anticipation, andthe brilliance of the light come together to form a visual choreography,in which each figure contributes to a skillfully constructed balance.

Thisdimension is particularly evident in TheTriumphal Exit of the Torero or The Idol,presented at the Salon des Indépendants in 1954. The chosen moment—that of the torero’s exit—allows Ladureau to transformthe crowd’s acclamation into a true scene of celebration.The central figure takes on an almost monumental presence,while the crowd becomes a vibrant pictorial mass.

WithTheBullring, View from the Bull Pen,Ladureau, on the contrary, adopts a more architectural perspective. Thebullfighting arena becomes the very subject of the painting: circle,perspective, light, and human presence are arranged in acomposition where anecdote gives way to structure.

Forthe collector, these works are thus of particular interest:they reveal a Ladureauwho is freer, more concise, and deeply committed tothe artistic possibilities of the subject.Bullfighting offers him a vocabulary of forms and movementsthat aligns with his constant interest in landscape andeveryday life, while lending his compositions an intensity anda presence that are immediately recognizable.

Ourpainting, first exhibited at the Salon de la Nationale in1922, is exceptional in two respects. Its modernity is evident in theCubist accents visible throughout the composition:faces, bleachers, and spectators, etc.—but also through itsimposing size. In fact, it measures 2.25 meters in length, not including the frame…Its superb state of preservation makes it an extremely rare piecefor such a subject.