The world of comics is in mourning. Claire Bretécher, author and illustrator, big name of the 9th Art in France, died on Monday at the age of 79. This Tuesday, many authors and comics paid tribute to him on social networks, sometimes to simply say "thank you", other times by returning to his influence.
Author and illustrator Catel ( Kiki de Montparnasse , Joséphine Baker ) calls her a "spiritual mother". She drew Bretécher and her heroine, Agrippine and posted the result on Twitter. “Queen of comics and model of emancipation for generations, I keep it in my heart and my pencil. His sensitivity, his humor, his gaze remain eternal, ”writes the author.
Death of Claire Bretécher: my spiritual mother left us this morning. Queen of comics and model of emancipation for generations, I keep it in my heart and my pencil. His sensitivity, his humor, his gaze remain eternal. #ClaireBretecher #bd #dessin #RIP pic.twitter.com/EehQkutyZe
- Catel (@CatelBd) February 11, 2020"Goodbye, Claire Bretécher"
Other comic strip authors have paid tribute to him in drawing. Riad Sattouf simply tweeted "Goodbye, Claire Bretécher", and crunched his own heroine, Esther, with Agrippine. The designer Chloé Wary, recently awarded the Audience Award at the Angoulême Festival for The Rose Season , also delivered a drawing of the characters of Bretécher represented in her own style.
Goodbye Claire Bretécher ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qETFDBKRmf
- Riad Sattouf (@RiadSattouf) February 11, 2020View this post on Instagram
Claire # clairebretecher4ever
A post shared by Chloé Wary (@chloewary) on Feb 11, 2020 at 4:09 am PST
Illustrator and colorist Thorn said on Twitter that she had colorized a board by Claire Bretécher for Dargaud. “For me, Bretécher, it was Les Gnangan , that I read and reread to the point of repeating a script for a comic that I had done in primary school. "
For me, Brétécher, it was the Gnangans, that I read and reread to the point of repeating a script for a comic that I had done in primary school. pic.twitter.com/hxJRmyvxfZ
- Thorn (@thorn_bulle) February 11, 2020"Measured promoter of curly bacon"
Others paid tribute to her in photos, such as Joann Sfar: "A huge designer, the only one undoubtedly to navigate with such naturalness between comics and painting," he wrote on Instagram. "Promoter measured from curly bacon. An immense writer. What a lack for all of us. "
Artist Lolita Séchan posted a photo of Claire Bretécher wearing a t-shirt with her designs. An image also shared on Twitter by press cartoonist Terreur Graphique: “I'm very sad. Claire Bretécher is dead. I owe him so much. She doesn't even know it. She will never know. But thank you for everything, thank you for me, dear Claire. "
View this post on Instagram
A huge designer, the only one undoubtedly to navigate with such naturalness between comics and painting. Measured promoter of curly bacon. An immense writer. What a lack for all of us.
A post shared by Joann Sfar (@joannsfar) on Feb 11, 2020 at 3:19 am PST
View this post on Instagram
Goodbye great lady, low hat 💔 # clairebretecher
A post shared by Lola Séchan (@lolasechan) on Feb 11, 2020 at 5:07 am PST
I am very sad. Claire Bretécher is dead. I owe him so much. She doesn't even know it. She will never know. But thank you for everything, thank you for me, dear Claire. pic.twitter.com/P3lt0e7Fy1
- Graphic Terror (@TerrGraphiQ) February 11, 2020Numerous pictures of the author, at all ages, circulated on social networks, as well as archives of her appearances on television, as in the program Tac au tac , in which she participated when she worked for Pilote in the years 1970-1980. Readers of her comics also shared extracts from her plates, or humorous drawings by the author.
"Eternal recognition"
One in particular has been published by many artists. We see a woman questioning a man there, probably a comic book author: “Isn't it a serious handicap to be a man in comics? She asked him. A way for Bretécher, no doubt, to highlight the absurdity of a question that we must have asked him a lot.
Author Catherine Meurisse shared it on Instagram, signifying her “eternal recognition” to Bretécher. Pénélope Bagieu also shared it, following a thread of tweets, Claire Bretécher's pioneering position. She has long been one of the very few women in the comic strip world - she is the first woman to receive the Grand Prix d'Angoulême in 1982.
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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
"She must have felt so alone when faced with stupid questions"
"I remember that when I started working, the journalists absolutely wanted to find Bretécher in my drawing," says the author of Les Culottées on Twitter. “It was very flattering but not at all founded. In fact it was just because it was the only example (which comes to them) of women in comics. Which path. She must have felt so alone when faced with stupid questions. Today the authors share their experience, we are federated… I learned to Brétcher the technique which consists [of] answering “blah” when the question is zero, and letting the silence hover afterwards. "
And then a picture to finish 👑💁♀️ pic.twitter.com/ilnGWlQ29A
- Pélénope Bagieu (@PenelopeB) February 11, 2020"Obviously I especially remember having cried with laughter while reading Cellulite and Agrippine as a child, and saying to myself" She is the only lady who does comics. " Continues Pénélope Bagieu. "He was a rock star"
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