ROCHETTE - Lot 60

ROCHETTE JEAN-MARC ROCHETTE AILEFROIDE, ALTITUDE 3954, Casterman 2018 Original plate no. 130 accompanied by its preparatory stage in India ink and wash, and its blue coloring in inks, enhanced with pastel. Signed. Indian ink and graphite on paper 42 × 56 cm (16.54 × 22.05 in.) Preparatory stage: 29.8 × 42 cm In order to get noticed by a girl he met in a refuge, young Rochette sets off in the middle of the night to solo the Râteau, a difficult route partly strewn with crevasses. On his way back down the next morning, he met a guide who, instead of congratulating him, scolded him profusely for having taken so many risks. A short story on a single panel, constructed like a film scene, all fields and counter-fields. In the early seventies, doing a solo route in these conditions was pure bullshit! I really like the look in the eyes of the dejected kid in panel 5. It's what makes this scene so special. J.-M.R.