Les panaderos 1905

Curator: Looking at "Les panaderos" from 1905 by Alexandre Lunois, what immediately jumps out to you? Editor: The shadows. Those imposing shadows behind the figures give a strange, almost spectral feel. It makes you wonder about the things that are unsaid, lurking just beyond the visible. Curator: Indeed. Lunois created this scene using gouache, lending it a soft, almost dreamlike quality, despite the strong contrast created by those shadows. The artist captures a moment, a performance almost. He situates us at a Flamenco dance, during an era where Spanish culture held particular intrigue. It's impossible to miss the lone dancer amid a flurry of bodies, guitars, dresses... Editor: The way the women are seated with the kimonos… the piece does raise questions about cultural appropriation, who gets to look at who and claim it as their own? The late 19th, early 20th century was awash with this kind of gaze. Orientalism seeps into Impressionism, and this artwork sits at that very intersection. Curator: That tension between observing and absorbing is palpable here. But isn’t there also something… liberating in that dance, the fierce autonomy of the woman commanding the room? Editor: Yes, the woman embodies this fierce, assertive… I think, agency in this space that, beyond the colonial context, seems coded by male gazes. It is impossible to un-see that context that continues to cast shadows in contemporary art. What the women in kimonos have to say to the flamenco dancer… what the painter tries to reflect. Curator: Maybe Lunois unintentionally stumbled into capturing not just a genre scene, but also the anxieties and aspirations of his era. Editor: Right. And perhaps the artist's attempt to fix this lively performance into an image falls prey to this problematic perspective. The power dynamic between artist and subject, between viewer and performer… it's all swirling within this single gouache. Curator: "Les panaderos," then, becomes an interesting point of entry to considering all those themes. Thank you!