Jan Bosschaert

Jan Bosschaert (born December 15, 1957) is a Belgian comics artist, painter and illustrator, best known for the comic series "Sam" and "Jaguar", and his illustrations for the books of Marc De Bel.

Biography

Jan Bosschaert is born in Borgerhout in Flanders in 1957.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jan Bosschaert". In België gestript, pp. 93-95. Tielt: Lannoo.] He is raised in Wijnegem, close to the forest, in a house with a large garden.Onraedt, Lieven (1996). "De grote Vlaamse tekenaars 5: Jan Bosschaert". Comic Events.] He spends most of his free time drawing. He made his first comic when he was about 10, and continued in the next years with comics in different genres, ranging from Sherlock Holmes stories to his own version of "Lucky Luke". One of his comics, about two senior scouts, he shows to established comics creator Eddy Ryssack, whose main advice is to make sure everything is well documented. He gets to know and love the work of André Franquin as well when he is 14, at a comics fair in Brussels.

His puberty is a rather unhappy period, where Bosschaert withdraws into his own world and into music. He listens to artists like Tom Waits or Jackson Browne, but keeps on drawing. When he is 18 years old, he goes on a visit to Pom, a comics author in "Gazet Van Antwerpen". Seeing the poverty the author lives in is quite a shock, but it doesn't stop him of becoming an artist himself.

When he studies at the Sint-Lukasinstituut, the Art Academy of Brussels, he gets to know the work of illustrator Ever Meulen, a former student of the same school, which will greatly influence him. Another great influence is the discovery of "Arzach", the textless comic by Moebius. Influences outside the world of comics come from the dominant styles of his youth, Punk and New Wave music.

Bosschaert publishes his first work in (À Suivre), and produces his first published comic album in 1982 with "Ikarus", but gets his first breakthrough with the satirical "Pest in 't Paleis" ("Pest in the Palace"), which appears in "HUMO" in 1983. It's a parody of the Belgian royal family and major politicians, and becomes a succès de scandale. But Bosschaert stops making comics and works for the rest of the decade primarily as an illustrator for different magazines, including "Playboy", and authors like Hugo Claus. His main illustrative work appears first in publications of the Flemish television VRT, and later in publications of publisher Altiora and popular children's book author Marc De Bel, whom he considers as a kindred spirit and an older brother.

He also continues to make paintings, mainly female nudes and erotic works. Bosschaert is a purely figurative painter, who prefers clarity over concepts.

His first longer running comic series starts in 1990, with stories by Marc Legendre. "Sam" tells the adventures of an adolescent girl working in a small garage. The series stops after 8 albums though, and translations are unsuccessful. While Bosschaert tries to limit his purely commercial work to a few jobs a year, he makes an exception for people he feels connected to. He creates "King Kong Kooks" as a catalogue annex comic for fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck.

More international recognition follows from 2001 on, when he collaborators with comics author Jean Dufaux on "Jaguar", a fantasy series published by Casterman and translated in French and Spanish. Local success in Flanders comes when he collaborates with comedian Urbanus on "De Geverniste Vernepelingskes", a series which parodies famous Belgians, including the two authors.

Bibliography

This bibliography contains only his comics, a list of his illustrations is not included.

Awards

* 1983: Provinciale Prijs voor de Schilderkunst (Provincial Award for Painting) of the province of Antwerp, Belgium
* 1991: Bronzen Adhemar, Turnhout, Belgium
* 2003: Best Author (Dutch language) at the Prix Saint-Michel, Brussels, Belgium

Notes

External links

* [http://www.janbosschaert.be/ Homepage] (French and Dutch)
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/b/bosschaert.htm Comiclopedia page]
* [http://www.arcadiastrips.be/bosschaert.htm Biography at Arcadia, one of his publishers] (Dutch)
* [http://www.vlaamse-illustratoren.com/pages/i7.html A page about his illustrations of children's books] (Dutch)