AB-64B-1964-002 — Light Trap (1964)

Technical information

Title: Light Trap
Date: 1964
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 46 × 55 cm
Location: Unknown

Biographical / historical context

In 1964, alongside the more condensed forms of segment 64A, Breuillaud develops a series of open architectures in which the organism becomes a network.

Masses no longer present themselves as central bodies, but as inner constellations—filaments, knots, passages and interruptions.

In this context, light ceases to be a mere contrast effect; it behaves as a substance held and captured by the very mesh of the composition.

Light Trap belongs to this direction: a scene without stabilised figures, where ocular and embryonic indices seem to form and then dissipate, caught within a deep atmospheric field.

Formal / stylistic description

The canvas is dominated by a vast rounded blue-green zone, like a membrane or cavity suspended in black.

Across this ground runs a network of yellow and whitened filaments—sometimes greenish—that stretches from left to right, branches and links points of intensity.

Luminous knots, circular or oval, punctuate the mesh: one, clearer, functions as a captive focus; others, darker, seem instead to absorb light.

The paint is worked through layers, scratches and reprises: granular zones alternate with smoother passages, and dark lacunae interrupt the circulation of the network.

Within this nervous cartography, certain forms evoke eyes, pockets or fragments of silhouettes, yet remain suspended—unfinished apparitions in a densely coloured milieu.

Comparative analysis / related works

The work sits at the heart of segment 64B, where Breuillaud transforms devices inherited from 1963 into more dilated structures.

One finds the principle of a captive nucleus, but it is no longer a narrative central mass: it becomes a point of condensation within a field of connections.

Compared with the great 63B scenes, dramatisation by figures withdraws in favour of a synaptic organisation made of bridges, breaks and returns.

Within the 1964 cycle, Light Trap provides a clear articulation with the circular compositions of the same year: the blue-green field—almost planetary—opens the way to more choreographic orbits while retaining the nocturnal, telluric density proper to this phase.

Justification of dating and attribution

The 1964 date is corroborated by the association of a deep blue-green ground with a network of yellow and whitened filaments, a motif highly characteristic of 64B research.

The absence of continuous, thick white membranes—more clearly asserted after 1964—places the work before the developments of 1965.

Layered facture, scratches and captive luminous knots, along with the persistence of ocular and embryonic indices inherited from 1963, confirm a coherent position within 1964 and support attribution to Breuillaud.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Georges Pillement Catalogue, colour plate IX (1967).