LOISEL

RÉGIS LOISEL PETER PAN Opikanoba (T.2), Vents d'Ouest 1992 Original plate no. 49. Signed. India ink and white gouache on paper 32.3 × 45 cm (12.72 × 17.72 in.) Taking up the myth of Peter Pan, "the child who didn't want to grow up", a story constantly torn between the real and the imaginary, the sordidness of the industrial revolution and the enchanted world of elves and pirates as created by Arthur Rackham and Howard Pyle, took a lot of nerve. With the help of elficologist Pierre Dubois, who suggested that Peter was in fact the youthful avatar of the future Whitechapel Ripper, Loisel turned this youth hero into an arrogant but endearing little moth who kept us on the edge of our seats for six albums. Loisel's sumptuous drawing and sense of comedy give full force to this twilight fable, in stark contrast to Walt Disney's watered-down universe.