Quentin ROOSEVELT and Polycarpe (Fernand DAUCHEZ):
I remember the walks with my father in the years 1968 when buying his first car, a Citroën 2CV, I was 7 years old and we visited the area of Château-Thierry with my brothers and sisters in the back of the van, discovering the beautifull sites of our country, the Dhuys, the castle of Condé-en-Brie, the Hood of the devil, the ruins of the castle of Fère-en-Tardenois, the ghosts of Landowski, the Belleau Wood and its cannons, the old castle, the cemetery of steam locomotives and the American Monument of Château-Thierry.
During a walk to the Abbaye-d'Igny we stop at the fountain of Chamy erected in homage to Quentin-Roosevelt by his family and my father explained to us the story of a young American who came to fight with France by flying his plane and died on same day as our national holiday, a symbol for our country.
Fifty years later comes to my memory these moments of my youth, during my many travels abroad for my work, starting from CDG airport we often fly over the area of Château-Thierry and taking pictures through the windows of planes was born the idea of making a painting in homage to Quentin-Roosevelt.
For this, i created a staging with Quentin flying his plane:
I searched the place where we could find a copy of his plane in a museum, the closest was that of Dübendorf near Zurich.
After many pictures taken in Switzerland, the idea came to make a symbol of peace between our countries, the United States, Germany and France.
I then removed the military symbols, machine guns, camouflage, and badges, and then show it in a silver color (like a Marvel hero) and represent Quentin sowing 20 doves representing his age, above the village of Chamery and Coulonges-Cohan.
I hope that these paintings will represent the peace found between our peoples and the Tribute to Quentin for the centenary of his death.