Warriors on Horseback Drawing

In 2022 I inherited a portfolio of drawings which had been stored in a Parisian cellar for many years. They were signed by a certain 'Marthe Wagner', and date from the 1880s and 1890s. Although the contents were badly damaged by time and humidity, the quality of the work and the beauty of the natural distressed effects on the paper were such that I decided to give them a second life. I selected the fragments which could be saved and, after meticulous cleaning, I carefully arranged and combined them to make a new composition. The different layers evoke a palimpsest imbued with nostalgia; the mysterious figures and motifs often seem to emerge from a surreal landscape. The images take on new meanings, open to personal interpretation. The idea behind this project was to save these drawings from destruction and oblivion and create something new and lasting. I hope the viewer will be moved by their timeless quality. Indeed, I would like to see this body of work as a posthumous tribute to the artist. In this series, I see myself as a 'passeur', which is why I have signed the collages 'W/S' (Wagner/Suter). Each picture is glued and mounted onto 300 gsm Fabriano watercolour paper. As its title indicates, this picture is a drawing of an antique bas-relief showing a battle scene.