GENÈSE DE LA TAUROMACHIE

Inspired by René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire and by the plates created by Picasso for the 1931 re-edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Gabriel Morantin has produced a series of ten original drawings tracing, for the first time, the mythological genesis of tauromachy.

 

This series - made on 100% pure cotton Arches paper (300g) using black Indian ink and water washes - seeks to move beyond the simple illustration of the short poetic narrative imagined and composed by Théophile Delvolvé. It presents a body of works conceived as a coherent whole, while affirming for each drawing a distinct identity through a particularly rich artistic development.

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Each ink drawing, whose formal linearity recalls the Italian Renaissance and ancient Greek vases, follows a standard format designed to integrate harmoniously into exhibition spaces or interior settings. The ensemble is distinguished by a profound symbolic exploration, combining archaism, paganism and Christianity in a tone that is at once tragic, historical and sacred, in resonance with the narrative motif. It adopts the solemnity of a sacred composition in the tradition of Byzantine and Orthodox icons, while drawing its atmosphere from provincial and Cretan landscapes.