GIBRAT Lot n° 4

JEAN-PIERRE GIBRAT MATTÉO Sixième époque (1939-1940) (T.6), Futuropolis Cover design created in 2022. Signed. Watercolor and acrylic inks on paper 36.2 × 51 cm (14.25 × 20.08 in.) On a fine breeze, a sailing ship - belonging to aviator Marmoza's father - sets sail for the coast of England. It carries a handful of survivors from the Dunkirk pocket, who have just escaped the Stukas' dive-bombing. Among them were Mattéo, his son Louis and nurse Amélie, who had returned to French soil to save what she could. Alone at the stern, the young woman remains pensive. The artist who observes and paints her can barely rouse her from her thoughts. Jean-Pierre Gibrat notes: "On a small sailboat, more or less buffeted by the sea, your brain follows its own thread. Its thoughts continue to drift. As for me, when I draw the pencil sketch of a heroine, often her expression escapes me..." Like here? Perhaps. In any case, this unusual backdrop of rigging, buoy and a Union Jack flapping in the wind enhances Amélie's discreet charm, while the slight slope of the horizon - where the French coast is no longer distinguishable - marks the sailboat's steady course.