Player's Escape - Workshop

Jean, the character painted by Henri Rousseau, is admired by thousands of visitors. Exhibited in New York’s famous Guggenheim Museum, he looks at all the faces observing him; that of a little boy intrigues him, and, just next to him, the yellow coat that seems to belong to a painter, attracts his attention...
The story begins with a comical exchange of identity between Jean and the little boy. The dream opportunity for the player (le Joueur) to explore New York, accompanied by the painter who takes him into Central Park.

The first part of the workshop consists of reading the book, and a game of recognition.
The book Sortie de joueur (Player’s escape) pays tribute both to New York and the work of Henri Rousseau. The city’s iconic districts and buildings conceal the characters and details extracted from paintings of the French painter. A card game can identify them.

We then offer children the opportunity to create an illustration, where, as in Sortie de joueur, the universe of Henri Rousseau and that of New York meet. Are the card characters walking in the jungle or in Central Park? The city streets are taken over by tigers and tropical vines that climb along the fire escapes. The snake charmer blows notes that resonate under the Arch of Washington Square Park.

The proposed pictorial techniques are drawing with pencils, felt pens and gouache with collage.

Drawings were produced from February to May 2016 as part of different events:
at the Brussels Book Fair, the Livre en Seine (Paris), the Riches-Claires and Ganshoren Libraries, the French Lycée, for Raconte-nous des histoires (Tell us some stories) at Wolubilis Cultural Centre, Ecole de Sainte-Dominique, Bataille des livres (Battle of the Books) and the youth literature book store ‘le Wolf’.