AB-MP2M-1951-007 — The Butcher’s Stall (1951)

Technical information

Title : The Butcher’s Stall
Date : 1951
Technique : Oil on canvas
Dimensions : 64 × 80 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

Dated 1951, this market scene belongs to a group of works in which André Breuillaud explores motifs of work and everyday life—stalls, vendors, customers, carts, and utilitarian objects.

The theme of food trade, with its contrast between the abundance of goods and the precise gestures of the craft, offers the painter an ideal field for organizing the composition in successive planes and for testing a darker palette punctuated with red and ochre accents.

Formal / stylistic description

The scene is constructed as a deep view into a stall, framed at eye level. In the foreground, the cutting table occupies most of the surface: quarters of meat—pinks, reds, and purples—are arranged in compact, almost sculptural masses.

To the right, the butcher, leaning forward, dominates the action: his dark torso, outstretched arm, and cutting tool form a diagonal that guides the eye toward the centre of the table. To the left, a seated or leaning figure (customer or assistant) balances the scene, while the background closes into bluish shadows beneath a horizontal green band (awning or sign).

The drawing favours simplified volumes and firm contours; the paint, laid in flat areas and superimposed layers, maintains clarity despite the fragmentation of forms.

Comparative analysis / related works

The subject dialogues with Breuillaud’s other market and workshop scenes from these years, in which he proceeds by geometric construction: objects are treated as autonomous forms of plastic value, and figures as masses articulated by broad lines.

One finds the same interest in the staging of work (table, tools, gestures) as in the later market compositions associated with the Ordener motif, here in a more intimate and darker register, centred on the stall rather than on the crowd.

Justification of dating and attribution

The date 1951 corresponds to the phase in which the artist stabilizes a language synthesizing figuration and construction: moderate fragmentation, compact volumes, and a contrasted palette (greens, nocturnal blues, reds).

The handling and the typology of the subject are consistent with works from the early 1950s. The attribution to André Breuillaud is confirmed by the signature at lower left.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Private collection (location noted in the notice). Provenance, exhibitions, and publications: not documented to date.