GABRIELLE VINCENT

GABRIELLE VINCENT ERNEST AND CELESTINE Noël chez Ernest et Célestine, Éditions Duculot 1983 Un caprice, set of 3 original illustrations. Watercolor on paper Illustration 1: 13 × 14.5 cm (5.12 × 5.7 in.) Illustrations 2 & 3: 14.5 × 12.2 cm (5.7 × 4.8 in.) Ernest and Célestine are often a bit chaotic, but here we sense that Ernest is totally elsewhere; they've burnt something in the saucepan; but for Célestine it's not an issue, she'd like him to stop everything immediately, she's clinging to him to convince him, and we can already sense that it's going to end in a big whim, as she's wont to do; and we also suspect that on the next page, it'll be hugs and reconciliation. But in the meantime, it all smells so burnt you'd think you were in a 1930s kitchen. If the furniture is anything to go by, Ernest and Célestine seem to be living in the 1930s to 1950s: the wood-burning stove, the pots and pans, the large basins for washing clothes or bathing Célestine - the artist is certainly drawing on memories of her childhood.