Editions Gilletta offers us a guide for walks in our hills. This publisher is the reference for those seeking images of the past, of the one who made Nice the ambassador of beauty and the sweetness of life. Nice is the rhyme of the rich catalog of Editions Gilletta, and today, it is an architect who presents us with his watercolor sketchbook.
Luc Svetchine is an architect in Nice, and the confident line of the technician is evident, sober, without smudges, but let’s not be mistaken, Luc has managed to discard academicism and shows us villas, houses, and magnificent, still preserved places.
These oases, not yet urbanized, are as many invitations to climb our hills, to get lost in the small paths where the scents of aromatic herbs still emanate. We find ourselves at the end of the 19th century when Nice was the sunny balcony where European aristocracy came to enjoy its eternal spring.
The watercolors of this artist seem to stretch to infinity, the horizon is not marked, and the grass bends at the will of the wind; there is no, and there should not be, any frame. It would be too rigid, and the intended shattered effect by Luc Svetchine would be damaged. You find everything in this sketchbook: “Folies,” houses of various styles between the Roaring Twenties and Art Deco, and also the modest house with ochre walls where perhaps some will find memories.
Moreover, some leaf through this picture book of the past and, moved, rediscover what was their home, the house of their childhood where memories resurface with the honeyed taste of the past. The hiking enthusiast will take this work as a guide and from Saint Isidore, he will go by paths and lanes to the Saint Michel area—a delightful walk in our hills. And as a poetry lover, he will not feel fatigue as he discovers one by one the watercolors of Luc Svetchine. It is understood that this book will have its place in your hiking bag, a precious work to discover the hidden facets of our hills and our Nice countryside.
T Jan
On the Hills of Nice
Selected Walks
Luc Svetchine
Editions Gilletta Nice
