Technical information
- Title : Dissolution of Bodies
- Date : 1976
- Technique : Pastel
- Dimensions : 50 × 65 cm
- Location : Unknown
Biographical / historical context
Within the CCL period, the year 1976 sees Breuillaud at times favour pastel: a medium that allows transparency, a tremble of tonal values, and an “inner” light more diffuse than oil. In this approach, the figure is no longer described as a body placed in space, but as a presence in transformation, traversed by flows.
Dissolution of Bodies belongs to this vein, proposing a scene without narrative, close to a mental frieze. The title suggests a polarity—doubling, mirror, a two-beat breathing—that can be read in the circulation of forms: bodies respond to one another, invert, and hand over, as if the same energy were passing from one entity to the next.
Formal / stylistic description
The composition is horizontal, constructed as a sequence of reclining or tipping nude figures. Volumes are deliberately unstable: torsos and pelvises turn over, limbs fold back, and positions extend from one figure to the next, creating a continuity of movement rather than a set of individuals.
The drawing, extremely fine, is taken up by a blue-green contour that “holds” the forms without closing them. Inside, areas of yellow, pale green, pink and mauve modulate the flesh through light superimpositions; the grain of the support remains visible and contributes to the impression of a veil and a breath.
Several eyes appear within the bodies themselves (rather than as identifiable faces): they punctuate the surface, introduce an interior vigilance, and transform anatomy into a sensitive organism. The background, cloudy and granular, does not establish depth; it acts as a milieu—an unbroken atmosphere that envelops and dissolves the contours.
Comparative analysis / related works
Compared with AB-CCL-1976-001 (Voluptuous Round), where circularity organises flesh into rotation, this work favours a frieze-like logic of relay: continuity is achieved by the sliding of one posture into the next rather than by a central vortex.
In contrast to AB-CCL-1976-003 (Entwined Couple), which condenses the figure into a compact, sculptural block, the presence here is dematerialised: line and transparency replace mass, and the sensation of gravity is lightened.
The motif of internal eyes, the muted chromatic range and the halo-like modelling anticipate the works of 1977, in which the figure acquires a more operative and mythological dimension (notably around the round, the mask and genesis).
Justification of dating and attribution
The 1976 dating is consistent with the handling: an extremely fine coloured contour, pastel glazing and halo effects, and a softened palette (diluted greens and mauves) distinct from the more contrasted incandescences of 1974–1975.
The internal eyes, the dissolution of the ground and the absence of spatial markers fully belong to the mid-1970s CCL vocabulary. The handwritten mention “Vence” visible at the bottom of the sheet, together with the signature, reinforces its anchoring in the production of this period.
All the formal characteristics (line, grain, the breathing of the support, metamorphic anatomies) are consistent with the Breuillaud corpus and support the attribution.
Provenance / exhibitions / publications
Mention “Vence” at the bottom of the sheet; signature visible.
Current location: unknown.
© Bruno Restout — Catalogue raisonné André Breuillaud