José Luis Vázquez Garces, known as Pepe Luis Vazquez (n. Seville, December 21, 1921), was a Spanish bullfighter.
Pepe was born in San Bernardo district (Sevilla) on December 21, 1921. The neighborhood of San Bernardo is known as "neighborhood of the bullfighters," becasuse it has been the birthplace of many "matadores". From the age of 13 he took advantage of nap time in summer and winter nights to stealthily approach the municipal slaughterhouse near his home and fight those animals that would be killed the next day, it said remembering this stage many years later: "It was like a bullfighting school, but not authorized."
It started as an apprentice in 1937 in the bullring of Algeciras.
On June 5, 1938 debut at Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla and in on July 13, 1939 he made his first performance at Las Ventas bulring in Madrid, in a tragic afternoon where is colleague Felix Almagro, suffers a catch in the neck by a bull and dies in the bulring nursing.
He take his "alternativa" (consegration) at the Maestranza in Seville on August 15, 1940, being his godfather and witness Pepe Bienvenida y testigo Gitanillo de Triana. On 20 October of that year, his "alternativa" is confirmed in Las Ventas. The bullfigh was attended at the invitation of Franco, the Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler who was visiting Spain.
Since then he performs in the main bulrings of Spain and America. During the years 1941 and 1942 leads the ranking of bullfighting. On July 25, 1943, suffers a serious injury in the face in Santander. His inimitable citation of the bulls with his crutch on the left hand folded as a cartridge, which then unfolded to give a natural feet together, excited the audience, was his famous "cartucho de pescao". This citation was not invented, but adopted it from another great bullfighter, El Espartero.
He retires in 1953, reappeared briefly in 1959 to a final goodbye to the arena that year, after two major wins in the Monumental de Barcelona and Madrid.
Later he devoted himself to breeding bulls buying a herd which was renamed Silva Vazquez Brothers.
His brothers Manolo Vázquez (1930-2005) and Antonio Vázquez (1933) and his son Pepe Luis Vazquez (1957), have also been bullfighters
In 1998 the Government of Spain granted the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.
On March 3, 2001 a panel of columnists and fans included it within the top 10 bullfighters of the twentieth century, with the following "matadores": José Gómez "Joselito", Juan Belmonte, Domingo Ortega, Manolete, Antonio Welcome, Antonio Ordonez, Paco Camino, Santiago Martín "El Viti" and Curro Romero.
On May 11, 2002 a touching tribute is made to him at the Las Ventas in Madrid, putting a mosaic of tiles with the following "Pepe Luis Vázquez Garcés, armonía, belleza y gloria en la Historia de la Tauromaquia" (Pepe Luis Vazquez Garces, harmony, beauty and glory in the history of bullfighting). At the same event Angel Luis Bienvenida brother of Antonio Bienvenida defined him by the following sentence: "Ha sido la esencia del toreo, lo más puro, profundo y de mayor arte y personalidad que ha existido" (He was the essence of bullfighting, the purest, deepest and most art and personality ever)
On April 20, 2003, a monument in his honor is placed in the city of Seville, very close to the Real Maestranza in ceremony presided by Mayor Alfredo Sanchez Monteseirín (That monument is this Waymark).
In April 2008 he received X premio nacional universitario de Tauromaquia Joaquin Vidal (National university award for Bullfighting), awarded by the Luis Mazzantini University Bullfighting Circle, he received the prize from the hands of his son son, also a "matador", Pepe Luis Vazquez. The event was held at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid.
As a curiosity, in his youth, had a brief affair with the Duchess of Alba, as stated in the biographical TV movie The Duchess (2010).
(From Wikipedia (
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This monument shows Pepe Luiz Vasquez in his "Matador" clothes with the cape in the left hand and the sword on the right waiting for the bull to attack.