Exhibition "Drawing water" at François Schneider Foundation - Wattwiller, France

The joyous, playful scenography features more than two hundred documents and objects, including original pieces, manuscripts, illustrations and animated films. The collection aims to capture the imagination of those nostalgic for the sixties, as well as aficionados of more contemporary graphic novels. Paper twirls all through the Foundation to elicit the substance of water, its link to the landscape and the environment, to travel stories and imaginary worlds, or its relations with humanity and with the body - in particular, with the tradition of taking baths. The exhibition is constructed from the heritage collections of the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image in Angoulême, as well as loans from authors, publishers and collectors. It retraces the history of drawings and illustrations on the theme of water over the past century, which have inspired a multitude of stories. The different approaches of the authors and artists down the years are all on show: from the early authors of the late-nineteenth century who set the tone for comic art (Georges Mory, Marcel Turlin) to the «clear line» school (Bruno Le Floc'h, Christian Cailleaux) to the iconic Moebius or Schuiten, and into the contemporary period and the rejuvenation of the genre via the graphic novels of Nicolas de Crécy, Marine Blandin, Suehiro Maruo, and others. Work by graduates of the HEAR art school (Haute École des arts du Rhin, Mulhouse et Strasbourg) - an institution famous for its illustration department - are also on display.