We review the posters of the ‘Real Maestranza’ in Seville for the bullfighting seasons of recent years
The ‘Real Maestranza de Caballería’ of the Spanish capital is usually the first to publicize the main work of the season to begin, either in the month of December or just started in January. Somehow, the fans have already begun to put names on that artistic background and we try to shape the season, specifically the second most important bullring in Spain: the Maestranza.
Given the subjectivity of art, every year the controversy arises around the cartel between defenders and detractors of the chosen work. This year, it has been criticized a lot because the Maestranza has not chosen one dedicated to the Sevillian bullfighter Joselito ‘El Gallo’, whose centenary of death is celebrated in 2020.
Next season bullfight in Seville: 2020
This week we have known the poster that will illustrate the bullfighting season of the Seville Maestranza next 2020. The author of the work is the German painter Albert Oehlen, born in Krefeld in 1954, known for his works of large dimensions and contents social or political, in addition to incorporating the use of new technologies in its execution.
It is a drawing that the artist made 20 years ago, impacted by bullfighting, which shows a bullfighter made with very loose lines accompanied by more free lines.
Work of Albert Oehlen; image of the Seville 2020 season.
The poster of last season in Seville
In 2019, María Gómez became the second woman to illustrate the Sevillian bullfighting season. Painter born in 1953, despite being a bullfighting lover, this was her first bullfighting poster. Artist recognized nationally and internationally, her figure is key in the painting of our country from the 80s.
With a tempera and acrylic technique, the artist represented a moment by Manuel Jiménez ‘Chicuelo’, the bullfighter from the Alameda de Hércules, on the occasion of the hundred years of his alternative at the Maestranza in Seville.
Work of María Gómez for the 2019 season.
Seville season 2018
With a previous poster by Eduardo Arroyo used as support, the French artist Claude Viallat made the work in acrylic on paper, depicting a bull and a bullfighter. The painter is a founding member of Support-Surfaces, a movement that questions the components of a painting; he distinguishes himself by using cloth from umbrellas, blinds or sheets instead of traditional canvas.
Art teacher in places like Paris, Nice, Marseille, Limoges or Nîmes, Claude Viallat was fascinated to have the opportunity to illustrate a bullfighting event as important as the Seville Maestranza season.
Poster of the 2018 season, work of Claude Viallat.
Vibrant colors in the posters of Seville 2017
An acrylic infographic, depicting the exterior of the ‘Puerta del Príncipe’ (Main Gate) and the river inside the Maestranza reflecting bull and bullfighter, illustrated the posters of Seville in 2018. The author was the Madrid-born Carlos Franco Rubio, painter which combines manual and digital media and gives absolute prominence to color.
For this particular work he used the sketch of a bull painted in strong water years ago, he passed it to the computer and on the print on canvas he began to color it. Also for Carlos Franco was his first bullfighting poster.
Carlos Franco Rubio illustrated the 2017 posters.
The image of the 2016 season
Juan Navarro Baldeweg was the author of the 2016 poster, an oil on canvas where he wanted to capture bull, bullfighter and performance, also making the audience part of the painting. In it combines the modern tradition of Picasso, Goya and Matisse.
Navarro is a Cantabrian architect who won the National Architecture Award 2014, the National Plastic Arts Award in 1990 and the Gold Medal for Merit of Fine Arts.
Picture of Juan Navarro Baldeweg for Seville 2016.
