Claire Bretécher in 2008 and one of her drawings, extracted from “Petits Travers”. - Rita Scoglia - Claire Bretécher - Dargaud

  • The comic book author Claire Bretécher died on Monday at the age of 79, announce this Tuesday Dargaud editions.
  • At the end of the 1960s and 1970s, Claire Bretécher established herself in the very masculine world of comics.
  • Cellulite, Agrippine, Les Mères, Thérèse d'Avila… Her emblematic characters are women.
  • "Feminism is really the only thing that interests me," she said on Antenna 2 in 1975.

"In the Nouvel Obs , she only reads Bretécher", sang the Strasbourg group Cookie Dingler in 1984 in their hit song Femme Libérée. While we learned this Tuesday of the death of comic book author Claire Bretécher at the age of 79, back on the journey of a pioneer, feminist in drawing.

A woman in a world of men

"Claire Bretécher was a pioneer in the conquest, by women, of a place in comics, a long exclusively male artistic form," emphasizes comic book critic Antoine Guillot on the air at France Culture on Tuesday. "She was admirable for that," confirms Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix at 20 Minutes , curator of the exhibition devoted to Claire Bretécher at the BPI in 2015.

“I did a year at the Beaux-Arts in Nantes and I came to Paris, because it was the only place where I could draw. I was not raped, it does not happen to me in horror, I struggled a little, that's it! "Said Claire Bretécher in 2015 in the columns of Causette . “This little provincial came to Paris because she wanted to draw. She fought. She has approached numerous publishing houses. She was very tenacious and she lived poorly at the start, ”recalls Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix.

In the editorial staff of Pilote , in 1969, by co-founding L'Echo des savanes in 1972 ("La chance de ma vie", according to Claire Bretécher), at Le Nouvel Observateur from 1973 to 1981, at the Angoulême festival in 1975 and 1982, the sagacity and ferocity of the illustrator impose themselves in the almost exclusively masculine world of comics. Reserved in editorial conferences, it stands out thanks to its corrosive, fair and "very licked" line. “I take great care in my drawings. I spend a lot of time making it look spontaneous, "she says about her work on Antenna 2 in 1975.

“His entry into the Pilot team served him well. Thanks to her very acerbic humor, she did not have any problems with her fellow designers, ”recalls Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix. And to add: "She hated being exploited and she was determined to live by her drawing". This is how she will publish her first albums on her own account.

A woman who crunches women

Through her collaborations with the press and her albums, the designer gives birth to iconic heroines of French comics: Cellulite, Agrippine, Les Mères, Thérèse d'Avila, etc. "I don't know how to operate male characters. I don't understand their mechanics. Everyone tells me there is nothing to understand, but that is not true. There are nonetheless constants by sex and by lifestyle, ”explains the designer in 2009 at L'Express.

In 1976, semiologist Roland Barthes called her the "best sociologist of the year". Sexual liberation, motherhood, work, couple, family, adolescence, relationship with the body and femininity, feminism ... Extremely lucid on the relationships of domination, none of the struggles of women escapes her vitriolic humor. "She was tender with none of her characters, neither men nor women," moderates Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix. She had above all a precursor side, she was interested in feminism, sometimes making fun, same-sex parenting at the time when it was not current. "

A feminist who mocks feminists

“Feminism is really the only thing that interests me right now. But, it's quite difficult because I, militancy, hate it, "she said on Antenna 2 in 1975. When asked" Do you feel feminist? ", Bretécher answers in 2009 to L'Express au passe:" It was my tendency, but the militant aspect always disgusted me. When I was young, I was on my backyard, I didn't have to be bored. "" She denied that she was an activist. She was a woman jealous of her independence and her freedom, ”analyzes Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix.

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Goodbye, Claire Bretécher. I'm so sad. Thank you for having accompanied me for so many years, for having nourished and inspired me. One of the first comics I read when I was a kid was Les frustrés. I did not understand much, but it immediately fascinated me. And I loved Agrippina so much that I dressed the same. #bretecher #clairebretecher #ripbretecher #bandedessinee #dessin

A post shared by Dorothée de Monfreid (@dorotheedemonfreid) on Feb 11, 2020 at 3:40 am PST

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Goodbye, Claire Bretécher. Eternal recognition. . #clairebretecher #autrices @thomasragon @ g.dehaan @lebescondfrancois @mermetpauline @dargaud

A post shared by Catherine Meurisse (@catherine_meurisse) on Feb 11, 2020 at 5:05 am PST

Laughing with everyone, his pen will also laugh at feminism. In a joke by the Frustrés entitled "Woman and creation", she self-parodies through Janine Lemercier, the only woman in sculpto-architecture. If it was not necessarily a direct source of inspiration, it made you want to draw to other women from Pénélope Bagieu to Dorothée de Monfreid via Catherine Meurisse.

"Many claim it! ", Notes Isabelle Bastian-Dupleix. "Catherine Meurisse considers her as a source of inspiration and a model and considers herself as his heiress," concludes the curator, who is precisely preparing an exhibition dedicated to the author of the overwhelming album La Légèreté , to be held at the BPI in Paris. from June 24 to November 2. The relay has passed.

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Culture

Claire Bretécher, author and comic artist, is dead

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  • Culture
  • Feminism
  • Disappearance