SCHUITEN

FRANÇOIS SCHUITEN LES CITÉS OBSCURES The Invisible Frontier 1 (T.8), Casterman 2002 Original plate no. 20. Signed. India ink on paper 44.8 × 60.4 cm (17.64 × 23.78 in.) This plate is a marvel: a drawing fascinated by Art Nouveau and 19th-century illustrators, particularly those of Jules Verne. We find here the disappearance of knowledge and techniques of the past, the library motif dear to Jorge Luis Borges and Umberto Eco, from whom François Schuiten and Benoit Peeters also borrow the maze motif, the timidity of the student in the face of technocratic power, and his solitude in the face of an alienating society that crushes him and imposes itself on him. In this whirlwind of strokes, Schuiten manages to preserve the orthodox clarity and precise references that are the hallmarks of the Belgian school of comics. A masterpiece.