Jean-Benoît Héron is a watercolorist in love with the sea and boats. Under his brushes, the boats come to life, as if animated. This painter is also a lover of detail. As an engineer, he has documented the construction of sailing ships, particularly those of the wooden navy. The assembling of hulls, planking, the detail of the rigging or the passage of a sheet do not suffer from the lack of precision in his drawings.
For his latest book, he looked at the novels that adorn his library. As he explains, "books surround my entire drawing studio. I love these covers that are my home when I draw". It was while rereading one of these illustrious novels that he had the idea of tracing the drawings of the boats that are often the heroes.
The Pequod, the Bounty, the Nautiluseuros, these ships that have made the history of maritime literature are sketched here. With great detail, Jean-Benoît Héron illustrates a dogger, a brig or a schooner.
The explanations that accompany the drawings are not extracts from the novels, but rather historical complements that retrace the path taken by the artist to find the traces of the ships described.
As Jean-Benoît Héron simply says, "These are the ships of MY library. There are many maritime adventure novels, but I chose the ones that made a personal impression on me. To make the book, I had to reread each one, taking notes to help me illustrate them."
Thus the book covers all eras from Noah's Ark to the boat of Le Viel Homme et la Mer through the Nautilus submarine of Jules Vernes. A good solution to make you want to (re)read these novels impregnated with sea water.
The boats of My library euros Jean-Benoît Héron
- Éditions Glénat
- 19.3 x 25.8 cm
- 128 pages
- 25,00 euros
