SCHUITEN - Lot 150

SCHUITEN FRANÇOIS SCHUITEN ◊ LES CITÉS OBSCURES La Théorie du Grain de Sable 2 (T.11), Casterman 2008 Original plates #83 and #84. Signed. India ink on paper 44.8 × 60.7 cm (17.64 × 23.9 in.) Opposite the two Bugti nationals who take them to their homeland, Boulachistan, a curious land linked to Brüsel by a strange murder, we find recurring characters from Les Cités obscures, Constant Abeels and Mary Von Rathen. The two will discover this mysterious country, reminiscent of the region between Iran and Pakistan that so fascinated Edgar P. Jacobs in The Secret of Swordfish. The journey allows François Schuiten to indulge his love of trains, one after the other in this page, starting with La Douce, a veritable ode to the Type 12, a Belgian train with futuristic lines capable of reaching - in 1939! - 165 km/h, to which Schuiten dedicated a solo album.