Marin-Marie (1901-1987). The "Why not? "mission... Lot 36

Marin-Marie (1901-1987). The "Why not? "mission to the Arctic. Watercolour on paper. Circa 1925. Signed lower left. Height : 55,5 cm. 55.5 cm ; Width : 80 cm. Framed, under glass. Marin-Marie did his military service on the "Pourquoi-pas?" of Commander Charcot, in charge of search and rescue missions on the Arctic ice pack. In 1925, he was an unskilled sailor on the ship. The two men became close friends. Charcot nicknamed Marin Durand "Marand Durin". He asked to stay not as a stoker, but as a cameraman. He draws sketchbooks during two expeditions and exhibits with Foujita and Maurice Utrillo. He then made a film and brought back from these expeditions about fifteen sketchbooks which would enable him to paint. On September 15, 1936, the "Pourquoi-Pas?" left Reykjavik in calm weather, but the storm came and, after hours of struggle against the elements, the "Pourquoi-Pas?" sank in the early morning of September 16, 1936 off the coast of Iceland, taking Charcot and the crew of the "Pourquoi-Pas? There was only one survivor, the helmsman Gonidec. Charcot was given a state funeral at Notre-Dame de Paris on October 12, 1936. A precursor of contemporary oceanography, Charcot was one of the great discoverers and explorers of the polar regions, both a sailor and a scientist, whose campaigns were carried out in collaboration with institutions such as the Muséum and the Service hydrographique de la Marine.