(Paris 1928–1999)
Annabel en torero assise, 1986, signed and dated 16 December 1986, titeld on the reverse, oil on canvas, 130 x 89 cm, framed

This work is accompanied by a photo certificate by Maurice Garnier

Provenance:
Bernard Buffet Estate (label on the reverse), 1999
Galerie Maurice Garnier, Paris (label and stamp on the reverse)
M. Jaoul Collection, Neuilly
Opera Gallery, Monaco (certificate available)
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Surugadaira, Japan, Annabel, la femme aimée par Buffet, Musée Bernard Buffet, May-June 2004 (label on the reverse)

In the context of a Europe in which initial post-war euphoria gradually transformed into a recognition of a destroyed reality, which could only be restored through problematic reconstruction, Buffet provides a clear answer to non-figurative art in crisis. His art explodes in an uncontainable manner, immediately gaining public acclaim and provoking differing – and often also explosive – critical reactions.

Buffet’s vision is of an austere world, which chimed perfectly with the post-war environment of individual alienation that was also captured by authors and philosophers like Sartre. Buffet paints the crudest aspects of life, depicting gaunt and suffering human figures with his typical linear incisions, still lifes cruelly fixed in their inertia, sordid interiors and spectral cities, all with a secure hand and firm line on large canvases (unsurprisingly, he was also an excellent engraver): it is cruel, disenchanted, bitter art, permeated with the anxiety and anguish of Sartre’s existentialism.
In contrast, the work in question combines the striking visual aesthetic for which Buffet was known with an uncommonly vibrant palette when compared with his previous work. His immediate post-war production in particular abounds with bony nudes of men and women, and tables laid with decomposed carcasses and sterile plates. Contrastingly, in the work under auction, the costume and drapery enfold the Toréador with gaudy and bright colours, standing out proudly from the blue-grey background.

The model for the painting here presented is an exeptionally close person to the artist: the singer and writer Annabel Buffet, Bernard’s wife. The two had an exceptional bond, and her appearance, which we could say was the very definition of “gamine”, was of course an endless inspiration for the painter. With her short hair, large eyes, and long, lean figure (usually accentuated by the menswear-inspired clothes she wore), Annabel embodied androgyny with a sense of style that had the same effortless chicness usually attributed to French women now, but that was arguably transgressive in her time.

The subject matter of the Toréador – a symbolic incarnation of resilience and male capacity to capture public attention – was a topic of contemplation for Buffet on numerous occasions. He painted it many times from the 1950s onwards, transforming it into one of his most recurrent themes. The subject of the corrida was of constant interest for artists and writers in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway in particular – both titans in their respective disciplines – bringing this sport to the attention of a wider audience due to the fascination it exerted on both.