Untitled

Technical information

Title : Untitled
Date : c. 1950
Technique : Oil on canvas (HST)
Dimensions : 38 × 61 cm
Location : Private collection

Biographical / historical context

In the PR2 phase (around 1950), André Breuillaud pushed a synthetic figuration in which the rural motif becomes a pretext for the architecture of planes and lines.

This work belongs to a set of Provençal scenes (agricultural labour, movement, village silhouettes) treated not as a narrative, but as a field of forces: the composition privileges flows, crossings and chromatic oppositions.

The presence of “utilitarian” signs (wheels, tool‑masses, basket‑like forms or loads) evokes the world of labour, but the anecdotal episode gives way to an almost choreographic structure.

Formal / stylistic description

A panoramic horizontal format, built on a sharp contrast between an upper blue register (sky / distance) and a warm ground (orange ochres) on which the silhouettes are organised.

At centre, a large bundle of sinuous grey‑violet ribbons traverses the image like a network of branches, ropes or movements: these curves form the main armature and “stitch” the planes together.

Figuration is intentionally reduced: simplified silhouettes, masked faces, volumes cut into flat planes. A light (turquoise) figure stands out at centre‑right, seemingly carrying or clasping a yellow load; other darker figures punctuate the left side and the far right edge.

Circular forms (wheel / disk) and red planes (wall, tarpaulin or architectural mass) punctuate the scene, creating accents that stabilise the dynamics of the ribbons.

Comparative analysis / related works

Through its frieze‑like dispositif and the use of carting signs (disks/wheels), the work converses with the variants of “Olive Harvests” from 1950: the same tension between collective gesture and a modular construction of the landscape.

The composition also relates to the most “taut” vein of PR2: instead of a perspectival space, Breuillaud favours the superposition of coloured planes, with emphatic contours and a simplification of anatomies.

Compared with calmer Caromb landscapes (e.g. AB‑PR2‑1950‑014), this scene assumes a higher linear density and a compression effect, in which figures and setting merge more closely.

Justification of dating and attribution

The “circa 1950” date is supported by the typical PR2 balance between legible figuration and post‑Cubist segmentation: schematic silhouettes, a strongly contrasted warm/cool palette, planes structured by dark contours.

The treatment of the sinuous ribbons and the reduction of volumes into signs (disks, architectural masses, faceted bodies) place the work before the more rigorous systematisation of 1951 landscapes, while already being far removed from the more descriptive PR1 construction.

Attribution to André Breuillaud is consistent with his PR2 vocabulary: fusion of figure and landscape, economy of detail, diagonal and curving rhythms, and a search for the motif’s autonomy through colour.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Current location: private collection.