French Graphic Novels Showcased at Cooper Union
The French Comics Association and the French Embassy in New York are presenting French Comics Framed, a month long exhibition on French graphic novel publishing, held Sept. 27-Nov. 5 at the Cooper Union, that includes a series of panels and discussions at locations around New York City.
The centerpiece of this monthly celebration of Francophone comics is French Comics Framed, a exhibition at the historic Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan of 50 comics illustrations taken from French graphic novels that will take the viewers through the history of Franco-Belgian comics. Eighteen of artists whose works are exhibited have traveled to New York and will be participating in a variety of the panels and signings organized around the exhibition. Panels will be held at multiple locations include New York Comic Con, which opens on October 6 at the Javits Convention Center.
Among the exhibiting artists participating in the New York evenets are Pénélope Bagieu, Etienne Davodeau, François Boucq, Asaf Hanuka, Matz, Jean-Marc Rochette and Nicolas Otero. American artists who have worked and published in France, such Matt Madden, and comics journalists Heidi MacDonald and Alex Dueben will be involved in many of the programs.
The exhibition, French Comics Framed, will be on view at the Cooper Union until November 5. It includes a survey of the best in French comics and traces the major styles and formal innovations in Franco-Belgian cartooning from Herge (Tintin) in the 1930s up to the present and such artists as David B., Julie Maroh and Pénélope Bagieu.
Panels begin September 26 and include events at the Society of Illustrators (A conversation with Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka, Oct. 4), The School of Visual Arts (French Comics on Screen, Oct. 6, moderated by Alex Dueben), and Museum of the City of New York (Who Is the Parisian Roz Chast? Oct. 7 moderated by Heidi MacDonald).
Philippe Osterman, CEO of Dargaud, and head of the French Comics Association, an industry group that includes most of the major comics publishers in France, said that since the early 1900s, the graphic novel as been “an essential element of French creativity” noting the global impact of such characters as Asterix, Tintin, and the Smurfs.
Osterman said “The Franco-Belgian graphic novel industry has developed a particularly strong presence in the American market, with between 60 and 100 translations published every year in the U.S. We are excited for French Comics Framed to give voice to major contemporary figures of Franco-Belgian comics and deepen their presence on the American landscape. ”
