…une exposition et une publication (an exposition and publication)
After the retrospective exhibition Didier Comès – L’Encrage ardennais (2016-2017), the Piconrue – Musée de la Grande Ardenne in Bastogne located in the Walloon Region in the Province of Luxembourg once again exhibits the works of the Master of Graphic storytelling (the 9th Art) through a temporary exhibition and a publication.
This time the museum highlights the representation of war. A theme that runs through the entire oeuvre of Didier Comès. And this because of personal reasons that can be traced back to the graphic artist’s childhood and the Second World War.
(to enlarge the picture click on the thumbnail)
The exhibition is actually intended to be part of the commemoration program of the Battle of the Bulge also known as the Ardenne Offensive. The drawings made for the album Dix de der, described in detail in the last part of the published trilogy Didier Comès l’encrage ardennais tome 3: La Guerre et autres conflits by Albert Moxhet evoke above all the loneliness of a young GI of the 101st Airborne Division in the middle of the fighting somewhere in Bastogne.
Anecdote: In 1979, Comès and his close friend Hugo Pratt, the father of a series of adventure and fantasy comics Corto Maltese, came up with a common story about the Battle of the Bulge. Although the project was not a success, Comès made some original sketches for an RTBF television documentary about civilians during the war and in particular a drawing evoking a tragic moment experienced by the inhabitants of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau situated in Bastogne.
Until February 6, the exhibition Comès et la guerre shows 70 original pages in ink, sketches and testimonials, in a compelling scenography.
Piconrue – Musée de la Grande Ardenne – Place en Piconrue, 2 – BASTOGNE
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