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Articles
Ardent Spirits: The Dive Bar of Comic Art
Cynthia Rose peels back the history of the secret life inside the bar Père Lunette: comic art born of militant politics. While the 19th century bar served society’s lowest, it also welcomed socialists, anarchists and Communards. In Père Lunette, we watch caricature evolve and witness the art’s most troubled hours. Its art personifies laughter as resistance.
André Valente: Day Five
André Valente hits the street of Angoulême during the weeks of the year when it isn’t packed full of comics to see what kind of memories he can track down. (The answer is quite a few!)
André Valente: Day Four
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and sometimes, your first impression includes a phrase that you may never be able to recover from. André Valente presents: A Cautionary Tale!
André Valente: Day Three
André Valente confronts the question of Chris Ware. No, not the qualitative question! The question of size: does it matter?
“We’re Not Doing Books To Make Our Living.”: A Dungeon Interview With Lewis Trondheim
With all new English language editions of Lewis Trondheim & Joann Sfar’s Dungeon series making its way to the United States, it was about time to check in and find out how things are going with all those fantasy mammals, and the murderer’s row of talent that has been drawing them!
Translating Terrors: Translating Kim Jung Gi’s and Jean-David Morvan’s Graphic Memorial McCurry, NYC, 9/11
Translator Bart Hulley offers his thoughts on working from English to French and back to English, as was his task on a 2016 album profiling photographer Steve McCurry, who was present in NYC for the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Drawing On Disaster: Children, Art and Trauma 1914-2020
Cynthia reports back on Déflagrations (Detonations), at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseille: 160 drawings by children from around the world, created between 1914 and 2020, expressing their experience of trauma, war and horror.
Charlie and The Courtroom
Cynthia Rose looks at cartoonist François Boucq’s courtroom illustration coverage of the recent trial for the murders at Charlie Hebdo, in Montrouge and at the Hyper Cacher (“Super Kosher”) supermarket, which he covered on behalf of Charlie Hebdo and recently saw release as Janvier 2015 The Trial in collaboration with Yannick Haenel.
A Picture Isn’t Always Worth A Thousand Words
Eisner and Harvey award winner Juanjo Guardino’s latest ouvrage may never cross the Atlantic. Bart’s here to make a case for why, as well as why it probably should.
BD Is My Beat: A Long Hard Squint at Manchette and Tardi
Helen’s gone on holiday in the Frenchest of France: noir, bande dessinée and Tardi, Tardi, Tardi!
Epidemic, Lockdown & Civil Unrest: The Paris Siege Cartoonists
Cynthia Rose takes a look back at another time when a whole bunch of cartoonists were forced inside by a pandemic while dealing with a government that didn’t seem to have a clue how to handle things.
Art In Quarantine: Jean-Philippe Delhomme
Cynthia Rose takes us on a virtual visit to Jean-Philippe Delhomme’s studio, to see how he’s managing his time-at-home, the type of art it’s producing, and what he thinks the past masters would have thought of all this social media.
Art In Quarantine: Brecht Evens
This week, we’re checking in with Brecht Evens and the publisher of his upcoming edition of Peter Pan, Josh O’Neill, about how they’re dealing with the impact of pandemic-induced quarantine.
Art In Quarantine: Fifi Mandirac
We catch up with French artist Fifi Mandirac following her and her family’s second week of staying home and making do.
Albert Uderzo: 1927-2020
He came, he drew, he conquered. Co-creator of one of the world’s most beloved comics, Astérix, Albert Uderzo passed away on March 24th at the age of 92.
COCORICO! Charlie Hebdo’s Coco Tackles Plato
The Charlie Hebdo cartoonist tried her hand at a graphic novel adaptation of Plato, the end result runs at Paris’ Galerie Art-Maniak through 14 March. Cynthia Rose is here to catch up those of us with travel restrictions.
Claire Brétecher (1940 – 2020)
“Her trajectory was a singular one, unlike that of almost any other artist.” Cynthia Rose, on the life and career of the legendary Claire Brétecher, who has passed away.
Catherine Meurisse: The Face Of French Comics Is Female
Catherine Meurisse speaks to Cynthia Rose about her majestic collaboration with Alexandre Dumas (yup!) Delacroix, what she’s got planned as one of the three artist-sponsors of the French “Year of The Comic”.
J.J. Grandville: A Matter of Line & Death
Cynthia Rose uncovers the legendary life of a master, J.J. Grandville, whose work is on display at Paris’ Maison de Balzac through January 13th, 2020.
How Yann Kebbi Made His Own Museum
Cynthia Rose profiles Yann Kebbi, the prolific and violently creative artist behind Fondation Kebbi, Americanin & The Structure Is Rotten, Comrade, whose original illustrations can currently be seen in Paris at Galerie Martel.
Forgotten Friends of the Nib: Caricature & Victor Hugo’s Head
If French press cartoons are unashamedly rude, what’s at the heart of such a caustic culture? The answer can be found in a current Paris exhibition, Caricatures: Victor Hugo On Page One.
French Abstract Formalist Comics (French Structural Comics): An Artistic Movement
In the mid-2010s, a group of young French artists began creating wordless comics with geometric and minimalist style and little or no narrative. What they show instead is more of a “process.”
“It’s Just So BD!”: A Fair to Remember
Reporting from SoBD, the annual comics festival located in the heart of Paris.
The Power of the Pear: When Caricature Met Poster Art
From Caricature to Poster takes you back to a lost moment. In the fin de siècle poster boom, it’s quite a surprise: ads and promotions created entirely by caricaturists. The story of how this happened is quirky – but it’s as real as that of Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge or Mucha’s Sarah Bernhardt. You can see it now at Museum of Decorative Art in Paris.
