GIBRAT

JEAN-PIERRE GIBRAT LE SURSIS Volume 2, Dupuis 1999 Original plate no. 36. Signed. Acrylic inks and watercolor on paper 29.6 × 40 cm (11.65 × 15.75 in.) In this sequence from Le Sursis, our two lovers, Julien and Cécile, have one of their charming, intimate encounters in the secrecy of the dovecote overlooking the terrace of the village of Cambeyrac. They are caught by the early-morning light that seeps through the jealousy without letting in the sun, but whose stripes punctuate the planking in the same way as the bed grate. It's a real place of resistance, as the couple listen to the radio from London announcing the Allied landings in Italy. It was the turning point of the war, and the Liberation was at hand. A feeling of nostalgia then arises in the hearts of the two lovebirds, due to the paradoxical nature of the situation: the period will forever correspond to these happy moments, while it concentrates the most terrible episodes that history has ever produced. Le Sursis is one of Jean-Pierre Gibrat's most memorable albums, and undoubtedly one of the most important in the history of comics.