AB-CCL-1976-003 — Entwined Couple (1976)

Technical information

Title : Entwined Couple
Date : 1976
Technique : Oil on paper
Dimensions : 64 × 49 cm
Location : Unknown

Biographical / historical context

In 1976, the CCL period is not limited to fluid figures and transparencies: Breuillaud also explores, more rarely, a path of carnal condensation, in which form tightens and stabilises. Entwined Couple belongs to this denser side, centred on the embrace as structure rather than as scene.

Here, union is not narrative: it takes the form of a bodily knot, almost of a living sculpture. The research focuses on the fusion of masses, the circulation of supports, and the way two presences can aggregate into a single compact entity.

Formal / stylistic description

The composition presents a seated couple locked in a total embrace. The two bodies blend: the upper torso leans and wraps, the head bows and is effaced, while the limbs interlock until they produce a single mass with multiple arms.

Modelling is worked by a golden light, laid in points and rubbings that let the brown paper breathe. This granularity gives the skin an inner warmth, as if the glow came from within rather than from external lighting.

The line, nervous and extremely fine, insists on lines of tension—hands, fingers, joints—and makes visible the vectors of the embrace. The background remains neutral, without depth, isolating the form and heightening the sensation of suspension.

Comparative analysis / related works

Within the CCL corpus, Entwined Couple reads as a counterpoint to the works of dissolution and membrane: instead of a body traversed by flows, the figure compacts and closes, seeking a volumetric unity.

The treatment by masses and the work’s monumentality bring it close to certain earlier carnal compositions by Breuillaud, while transposing them into a 1970s language (fine line, neutral space, inner light).

This density also prefigures a few rare pieces of 1977–1978 in which the artist reintroduces more stable human volumes, while maintaining the psychic, non-descriptive character of space.

Justification of dating and attribution

The 1976 dating is directly supported by the inscription “Vence 76” visible at the bottom of the work, together with the signature.

The technique on paper, the ochre-golden palette, and the modelling through grain and light highlights correspond to Breuillaud’s practices in the mid-1970s. The graphic syntax (fine line, emphasised hands, fused bodies) fully belongs to the CCL logic.

These formal and material elements support the coherence of the dating and the attribution.

Provenance / exhibitions / publications

Inscription “Vence 76” and signature visible.

Reproduced, dated and titled in the Michelle Philippon catalogue (1992).

Current location: unknown.