Personal favourites
An artist's sources of inspiration are often found in the infinite world of engraving, printmaking, printing and photography. These techniques allow drawing to be disseminated.
When François Brochet meets Le Corbusier, the architect, in 1942 in Vézelay, he imagines a world of theatre, puppets, programmes and poetic texts disseminated through woodblock engraving. Le Corbusier responded to the exuberant desire of youth with his doctrine: « Draw, for drawing alone will give you true freedom ».
For 50 years F. Brochet drew from life — on his travels, with models, on beaches, at the circus…
Sketches, plans and studies were his daily exercises.
His inspiration would come from his « personal favourites »: African sculptures, Neapolitan figurines, Japanese prints, 19th-century illustrators (Icard, Forain, etc.), engravers (P.E. Laboureur, Roland Oudot, Jean Hélion…), and the compositions of his contemporaries (Dewasne, B. Buffet…).
His gaze rested insistently on drawing, composition, mastery of line and flat colour. He would employ them as a sculptor (polychrome direct carving), but also in the preparation of « Murals » in cut fabric.
Under the influence of « his personal favourites », François Brochet came to conceive his major work: « The Massacre of the Innocents ».
A « Group », as A. Malraux noted in 1963.
The dream of a complete theatre company with motionless actors…