François Bourgeon
Encyclopedia
François Bourgeon is a French
comics artist
, author of several noted European comic books.
and to develop his craft over the next few years. When the Les passagers du vent (The Passengers of the Wind) series was serialised in Circus magazine in 1979, it became recognised as one of the most important European comic series of its era. His graphic novels have ranged from nautical and medieval historical fiction to science fiction
, and characteristically, within settings of violence
and sexuality
, epic stories revolve around strong female characters. Isa
, Mariotte and Cyann
are the heroines of each their series, The Passagers of the Wind, The Twilight Companions and The Cyann Saga, respectively. Bourgeon is noted as a thorough researcher and his drawings, of 17th-century ships, for example, or 14th-century clothing, have a reputation for historical accuracy. He lives in Cornouaille
in Brittany
.
When Bourgeon's usual editor since 1983, the family-owned company Casterman
, was bought by the large corporation Flammarion, problems arose. 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 October 30, 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 April 27, 2004 an appeals court finally overturned the judgment of the previous court. 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.
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.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
comics artist
Comics artist
A comics artist is an artist working within the comics medium on comic strips, comic books or graphic novels. The term may refer to any number of artists who contribute to produce a work in the comics form, from those who oversee all aspects of the work to those who contribute only a part.-Comic...
, author of several noted European comic books.
Biography
Bourgeon was originally educated as a master stained glass artist, but difficulties in finding employment and a passion for drawing altered his course onto a different career. Getting illustrations published in magazines from 1971 eventually led him to pursue graphic storytellingGraphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
and to develop his craft over the next few years. When the Les passagers du vent (The Passengers of the Wind) series was serialised in Circus magazine in 1979, it became recognised as one of the most important European comic series of its era. His graphic novels have ranged from nautical and medieval historical fiction to science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, and characteristically, within settings of violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, epic stories revolve around strong female characters. Isa
Isa (character)
Isa is the central character of a historical fiction graphic novel series, Les Passagers du vent by François Bourgeon....
, Mariotte and Cyann
Cyann
Cyann is the central character of a science fiction graphic novel series, The Cyann Cycle by François Bourgeon. As a pandemic fever threatens to kill a good proportion of the males on the planet Olh, Cyann, daughter of the rich aristocrat Lazuli Olsimar, leads an expedition to the planet ilO intent...
are the heroines of each their series, The Passagers of the Wind, The Twilight Companions and The Cyann Saga, respectively. Bourgeon is noted as a thorough researcher and his drawings, of 17th-century ships, for example, or 14th-century clothing, have a reputation for historical accuracy. He lives in Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
.
The Cyann Saga affair
Casterman
Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...
, was bought by the large corporation Flammarion, problems arose. 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 October 30, 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 April 27, 2004 an appeals court finally overturned the judgment of the previous court. In the meantime these litigations had become a "cause célèbre" in France, because of the intellectual freedom questions and copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
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 (available on their Web site) and an interview on the Auracan.com site on the occasion of the February 2007 launch of "Les couleurs de Marcade" the most recent album 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.
Les Passagers du vent (The Passagers 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 978-2-356-48066-8)
- 7. La Petite Fille Bois-Caïman - Livre 2 (2009, ISBN 978-2-356-48112-2)
- HS. Les chantiers d'une aventure (1994, with Michel Thiebaut, ISBN 2-203-38023-3)
Les Compagnons du crépuscule (The Twilight Companions)
- 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 Thiebaut, 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)
- HS. La clef des confins: D'Olh à ilO et au-delà (1997, ISBN 2-203-38030-6)
Awards
- 1980: Best ArtistAngoulême International Comics Festival Other awardsA number of awards was only presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for a short time.-Award for best French artist:* 1974: Alexis* 1975: Jacques Tardi* 1976: André Cheret* 1977: Moebius* 1978: Paul Gillon-Award for best foreign artist:...
at the Angoulême International Comics FestivalAngoulême International Comics FestivalThe Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
, France - 1985: FM-BD AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Other awardsA number of awards was only presented at the Angoulême International Comics Festival for a short time.-Award for best French artist:* 1974: Alexis* 1975: Jacques Tardi* 1976: André Cheret* 1977: Moebius* 1978: Paul Gillon-Award for best foreign artist:...
at the Angoulême International Comics Festival - 1988: nominated for Best Long Comic Strip and Best Drawing at the Haxtur AwardHaxtur AwardThe Haxtur Award is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias ....
s, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... - 1991: Angoulême Audience AwardAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize Awarded by the AudienceThis Prize Awarded by the Audience is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival since 1989.The prize was known as Alph-Art du public from 1989-2003, the Prix du public from 2004-2006, and since 2007 the Essentiel FNAC-SNCF, since it is sponsored by the retailer Fnac...
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
External links
- François Bourgeon biography on Casterman
- François Bourgeon biography on Vents d'Ouest
- François Bourgeon biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
- History and Femininity in François Bourgeon's Les compagnons du crépuscule Article from Image & Narrative