PLESSIX Lot n° 124

MICHEL PLESSIX THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS Foutoir au manoir (T.4), Delcourt 2001 Original plate n°113 with its coloring. Graphite and India ink on paper 31.9 × 47.8 cm (12.56 × 18.82 in.) Coloring on blue with watercolor on paper 21.4 × 25.9 cm (8.4 × 10.19 in.) This is undoubtedly a masterpiece of the Breton artist. One can imagine all the work that this drawing must have required, of which one can see the three successive states: pencilling, inking and then coloring on blue. The coloring blue had been developed by Casterman for Hergé during the Occupation and had become the reference system for color between the 1940s and 2000, before home scanners and digital retouching became the norm, allowing a rapid development of direct color. One will admire in particular the rigor of the composition, entirely organized around the central wooden staircase, and the meticulousness of the color conceived in print format.