François Bourgeon
François Bourgeon | |
---|---|
Born | Paris, France | 5 July 1945
Nationality | French |
Area(s) | artist, writer, colourist |
Pseudonym(s) | Bourgeon |
Notable works | Les Passagers du vent Les Compagnons du crépuscule Le Cycle de Cyann |
Awards | full list |
François Bourgeon (born 5 July 1945,
Biography
Bourgeon was originally educated as a master
The Cyann Saga affair
When Bourgeon's usual editor since 1983, the family-owned company Casterman, was bought by the large corporation Flammarion, problems arose.[3] Bourgeon and Lacroix claimed that Flammarion had altered the sales numbers to slow down royalty payments to the authors, and then committed other irregularities. The authors took Flammarion to court in 1999. Flammarion countersued separately, charging the authors over failure to produce a new album of the Cyann series in less than three years. The contract between the authors and Casterman had never specified a fixed date or time period for producing any album, but despite this, on 30 October 2001 a court decided in favor of Flammarion and ordered the authors to produce an album (the third of the series), with a fine of €1000 per each day's delay. On 27 April 2004 an appeals court finally overturned the judgment of the previous court.[4] In the meantime these litigations had become a "cause célèbre" in France, because of the intellectual freedom questions and copyright issues they raised in literary circles. In the end, the authors got their liberty and their rights and the third album of the cycle finally came out in 2005, eight years after the previous one, through a different publishing house, Vents d'Ouest.
Nature of collaboration with Claude Lacroix
In an interview in the "Dare-Dare" program of Radio Suisse Romande, as wall as a February 2007 interview on the launch of "Les couleurs de Marcade" installment in the "Cycle de Cyann" series, François Bourgeon revealed the nature of the collaboration between him and Claude Lacroix. For this most recent album as well as the others in the Cyann series Lacroix had the task of creating nearly all of the complex decors, natural or man made be they planets or islands, cities or buildings. In this way he created for Bourgeon the futuristic equivalent of the thorough documentation which had always been the basis for his previous series.
Lacroix, an old friend and collaborator of Bourgeon from times pre-dating those of his other series, created the decors and many of the more important objects of the Cyann series by making sketches and drawings and paintings, and also a few solid three-dimensional models at times. The solid model for the city in "Les couleurs de Marcade" took up several meters of space at Lacroix's home. The process for this universe-making was always interactive and non-exclusive. In some instances Bourgeon would choose to make himself some of those background sketches, and he would later show them to Lacroix for his opinion. Regardless of who initiated a sketch or large drawing, the two would exchange comments at all steps as the decor went from early sketch form to finished product within the BD.
Selected bibliography
Brunelle et Colin
(with Robert Génin )
- 1. Le vol noir (1979, ISBN 2-7234-0099-9)
- 2. Yglinga (1980, ISBN 2-7234-0168-5)
Les Passagers du vent (The Passengers of the Wind)
- 1. La fille sous la dunette (1980, ISBN 2-7234-0132-4)
- 2. Le ponton (1980, ISBN 2-7234-0164-2)
- 3. Le comptoir de Juda (1981, ISBN 2-7234-0215-0)
- 4. L'heure du serpent (1982, ISBN 2-7234-0290-8)
- 5. Le bois d'ébène (1984, ISBN 2-7234-0440-4)
- 6. La petite fille Bois-Caïman - Livre 1 (2009, ISBN 978-2-35648-066-8)
- 7. La petite fille Bois-Caïman - Livre 2 (2010, ISBN 978-2-35648-112-2)
- 8. Le sang des cerises - Livre 1: Rue de l'Abreuvoir (2018, ISBN 978-2-413-00408-0)
- 9. Le sang des cerises - Livre 2: Rue des Martyrs (planned release: 2023[5])
- HS. Les chantiers d'une aventure (1994, with Michel Thiébaut, ISBN 2-203-38023-3)
- HS. Le chemin de l'Atchafalaya (2010, with Michel Thiébaut, ISBN 978-2-356-48202-0)
Les Compagnons du crépuscule (The Companions of the Dusk)
- 1. Le sortilège du bois des brumes (1983, ISBN 2-203-33516-5)
- 2. Les yeux d'étain de la ville glauque (1986, ISBN 2-203-33811-3)
- 3. Le dernier chant des Malaterre (1990, ISBN 2-203-33830-X)
- HS Dans le sillage des sirènes (1992, with Michel Thiébaut, ISBN 2-203-38021-7)
Le Cycle de Cyann (The Cyann Saga)
(with Claude Lacroix)
- 1. La sOurce et la sOnde (1993, ISBN 2-203-38857-9)
- 2. Six saisons sur ilO (1997, ISBN 2-203-38894-3)
- 3. Aïeïa d'Aldaal (2005, ISBN 2-7493-0218-8)
- 4. Les couleurs de Marcade (2007, ISBN 978-2-7493-0239-3)
- 5. Les couloirs de l'Entretemps (2012, ISBN 978-2-35648-323-2)
- 6. Les aubes douces d'Aldalarann (2014)
- HS. La clef des confins: D'Olh à ilO et au-delà (1997, ISBN 2-203-38030-6)
Awards
- 1980: Best Artist at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France
- 1985: FM-BD Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival
- 1988: nominated for Best Long Comic Strip and Best Drawing at the Haxtur Awards, Spain
- 1991: Angoulême Audience Award for Le dernier chant des Malaterre
- 1998: Prix Ozone, Bande dessinée francophone for Six saisons sur IlO
- 1998: Angoulême Prix Alph-Art du Public for Le Cycle de Cyann-Six saisons sur IlO
References
- Bourgeon publications in Circus and (A SUIVRE) BDoubliées (in French)
- Bourgeon albums Bedetheque (in French)
Footnotes
- ISBN 978-0853239383.
- ^ François Bourgeon: le Cycle de Cyann enfin terminé
- ^ Deppey, Dirk (2003-12-05). "François Bourgeon's war". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18.
- ^ Anspach, Nicolas (2004-05-21). "Bourgeon et Lacroix, enfin libres de créer à nouveau ?" (in French). actuabd.com.
- ^ "En baie d'Audierne, dans l'antre du dessinateur François Bourgeon". 19 April 2022.
External links
- François Bourgeon biography on Casterman (in French)
- François Bourgeon biography on Vents d'Ouest (in French)
- François Bourgeon biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
- History and Femininity in François Bourgeon's Les compagnons du crépuscule Article from Image & Narrative