ROCHETTE - Lot 63

ROCHETTE JEAN-MARC ROCHETTE LE TRANSPERCENEIGE (T.1), Casterman 1984 Original plate no. 70, prepublished in (À suivre) n°62, March 1983. Signed. India ink, white gouache and graphite on paper. 33 × 45.2 cm (12.99 × 17.8 in.) This plate features Adeline and Proloff, the two main characters of the saga. To reach the man she loves in a part of the train she doesn't normally have access to, Adeline has taken enormous risks. With the exception of a slight shift, Rochette still respects the rules of the waffle iron. The image never lets go of the two characters, who cling to each other like a buoy. It's an image that's over forty years old! I was twenty-five when I drew this album. Jacques Lob didn't want a virtuoso for Le Transperceneige, but someone who could make the story realistic enough to draw the reader in. There's something of the Flemish primitives in this drawing, the coalman's faith of a young artist who's trying to find himself and who, without quite realizing it, is creating a classic of world comics. Before, I could only see the flaws, but now I can see the full emotional charge. J.-M.R.