“Nimeño made himself, he led an exemplary career”: Joël Bartolotti and Jean-Charles Roux publish a very precise biography of the matador

Jean-Charles Roux and Joël Bartolotti publish a well-documented summation on the career of Nimeño II.

The authors return in detail to the career of the Nîmes matador, who would have been 70 years old in 2024, with a very documented and richly illustrated biography.

"Nimeño was not properly evaluated by the bullfighting world in France as in Spain", according to Joël Bartolotti and Jean-Charles Roux, who co-signed at Numéro 7 a detailed biography of the matador, who would have been 70 years old this year. "He alternated with the greatest figures, he led an exemplary career thanks to his own means, his own value. He did it all on his own and opened the market to the other generation. It is part of the Nîmes heritage", continue the authors, who worked for more than 2 years, delving into the archives, to return in detail to an extraordinary career.< /p>

"It is part of Nîmes heritage"

Far from hagiography or intimate story, the authors wanted to evoke the matador by looking back on his 433 bullfights, 69 novilladas and 41 novilladas without picadors, since his first appearance on the track in Saint-Gilles in 1969 until the end of the year. at the final miurada of 1989 on the sand of Arles. "He competed 171 times in South America, where he was considered equal to the greatest", recalls Joël Bartolotti .

Scouring the bullfighting press, notably the magazine Toros, which was directed by Joël Bartolotti and of which Jean-Charles Roux was the manager, but also the local French and Spanish newspapers, the authors have carried out painstaking work and highlight three essential races. On October 3, 1988, the moment went unnoticed due to floods, but Nimeño delivered one of its largest faenas to Madrid. The book also evokes the bullfight against the Miura in Béziers on August 15, 1983 and the improvised solo against the Guardiola on May 14, 1989.

"A complete bullfighter"

"Nimeño was a bullfighter of rare professional honesty, a bullfighter of great regularity, complete, varied in the cape, dominant in the muleta, he bandaged and was a great killer who used the sword, continue Joël Bartolotti and Jean-Charles Roux, who knocked on every door to enrich the story, illustrating it with photos by Madrid-based Fernando Botan, Sevillian Joachin Arjona, French photographers Christian Mouraret, Bernard Moschini, Michel Volle, family archives… No sensationalist photo of his last race, just an evocation of the moment when he exchanges his paséo cape, a few minutes before the accident…

The authors have also enriched the biography with testimonies, in particular from Margarita who accommodated him during his tours in South America or from bullfighters with whom he shared the ring, Paco Camino, Victor Mendes, Richard Millian , Patrick Varin… Luis Francisco Espla pays homage to him with a singular preface, a painting celebrating with a poetic play on words, the one who was his friend "no more, no less". Ni mas, Nimeños

"Nimeno, a Nîmes in the arena", by Joël Bartolotti and Jean-Charles Roux. Editions Numéro 7, 224 pages. 38 €. Book signing meetings Thursday, May 16, at 4:30 p.m. at the Goyard bookseller, 34 boulevard Victor-Hugo and at 6:30 p.m. at the Le Napoléon bar, 46 boulevard Victor-Hugo  ;nbsp;; Saturday May 18, 12:45 p.m., at the Col y Toros bodega, Foyer Albaric; Sunday May 19, 1 p.m., at the Pepe de Montijo bodega, rue Bigot. I subscribe to read more