Born in Paris to a Spanish father of Mexican origin and a French mother educated in England, Antonio de La Gándara entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1868, where he studied under Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Léon Gérôme, both of whom quickly recognised his precocious talent. He formed close friendships within Montmartre’s artistic milieu, notably with Rodolphe Salis, founder of Le Chat Noir, Théophile Steinlen, Caran d’Ache, and Adolphe Willette. After marrying Anne-Catherine Wilms in 1885, he painted the celebrated portrait of Robert de Montesquiou, whose patronage introduced him to influential social circles and led to prestigious commissions portraying the Comtesse de Montebello, the Baronne Adolphe de Rothschild, Anna de Noailles, and Madame Gautreau, the celebrated sitter of John Singer Sargent’s iconic painting Madame X. From 1892 onward he exhibited regularly at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, and by the early 1900s he enjoyed considerable success both in Europe and the United States. Closely associated with writers and musicians of his generation, La Gándara also developed a marked interest in fashion, notably through his collaboration with La Gazette du Bon Ton.
Pastel played a central role in La Gándara’s graphic work. Working on toned papers, he built up delicate layers of colour to create soft transitions, luminous veils, and gently blurred contours. He excelled in capturing the atmospheric effects of twilight and evening, when silhouettes and shadows dissolve beneath the glow of streetlamps. His landscapes – often set in parks, along riverbanks, or on lamplit avenues – carry a distinctly Symbolist inflection, merging recognisable sites with mist, silence, and poetic ambiguity. Views of the Place de la Concorde and the Madeleine, prospects along the Seine, and especially his oils painted in the Jardin du Luxembourg – admired by the poet Albert Samain – all attest to this lyrical sensibility.
In preparation for his 1893 solo exhibition at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, La Gándara surrounded his grand society portraits with a group of small-format pastels depicting Parisian scenes, underscoring the importance of this medium within his œuvre. Our pastel belongs to this group: in The Kiosk La Gándara approaches the nocturnal lyricism cultivated by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Degouve de Nuncques, and József Rippl-Rónai, evoking the hushed visions of the urban night that came to be closely associated with Symbolism. Cool tonalities punctuated by warmer halos around the lights dominate the scene, while the visible grain of the paper enhances the impression of damp air and suspended time.