François Schuiten
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François Schuiten (born 26 April 1956) is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures.
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[edit] Biography
François Schuiten is born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956.[1] His father, Robert Schuiten, and his mother, Marie-Madeleine De Maeyer, both were architects. He has five brothers and sisters, and one of them is an architect as well. During his studies at the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels (1975-1977), he meets Claude Renard, who leads the comics department at the school. Together they create several books. Schuiten's brother Luc also works with him several times as a writer for the series Terres Creuses.
May 3, 1973, Schuiten publishes his first comic of 5 pages in black and white in the French magazine Pilote, and four years later he publishes in the more experimental magazine Métal Hurlant.[1]
Schuiten is the son of two architects. His love of architecture becomes apparent in the series Cities of the Fantastic, an evocation of fantastic, partly imaginary cities that he creates together with Benoît Peeters from 1983 on for the Belgian monthly comics magazine (À Suivre). Every story focuses on one city or building, and explores further a world where architects, urbanists, and ultimately "urbatects", are the leading powers and architecture is the driving force behind society. Styles explored in the series include stalinistic and fascist architecture in La Fièvre d'Urbicande, skyscrapers in Brüsel, but also the gothic cathedrals in La Tour.[1] This fascination with architecture and the possible and impossible cities it can create is further researched in The Gates of the Possible, a weekly series he creates for the newspapers Le Soir and De Morgen in 2005. Schuiten gets his inspiration from artists and scientists alike, mixing the mysterious worlds of René Magritte and the early scientific fantasies of Jules Verne with the graphical world of M. C. Escher and Gustave Doré and the architectural visions of Victor Horta and Étienne-Louis Boullée.[1] The closeness of the work of Schuiten to the books of Jules Verne culminates when he is asked to make the cover and illustrations for the rediscovered book Paris in the 20th Century in 1994.
He also works as a graphic designer for two movies: Gwendoline by Just Jaeckin, Taxandria by Raoul Servais, and the computer graphics series Quarxs by Maurice Benayoun. As a scenographer, making designs for the metro stations of Porte de Hal (Hallepoort) in Brussels and Arts et Métiers in Paris and a mural in Brussels.
In 2000, he designs the scenography for A planet of visions, one of the main pavilions of the Hannover World's Fair with more than five million visitors. In 2004-2005, a large exposition, The Gates of Utopia, showing different aspects of his work, is held in Leuven. He also creates the interior of the Belgian pavillion at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan with painter Alexandre Obolensky.[2] François Schuiten has also designed 15 Belgian stamps.[3]
Schuiten together with Peeters is also helping with the saving and subsequent restoration of Maison Autrique, the first house designed by Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta.
François Schuiten is married with Monique Toussaint since 1980 and has four children.
[edit] Bibliography
- Les Cités Obscures: 1983- , 11 albums and some specials, with Benoît Peeters: Casterman
- Dolorès: 1991, 1 album, artist Anne Baltus: Casterman
- Express: 1981, 1 album, with Claude Renard: Magic-Strip
- Les Machinistes: 1 album, 1984, with Claude Renard: Les Humanoïdes Associés
- Métamorphoses: 2 albums, 1980-1982, with Claude Renard: Les Humanoïdes Associés
- Plagiat!: 1 album, 1989, with Benoît Peeters, written by Goffin: Les Humanoïdes Associés
- Souvenirs de l'éternel present: 1 album, 1993, written by Benoît Peeters: Arboris
- Les terres creuses: 3 albums, 1980-1990, written by Luc Schuiten: Les Humanoïdes Associés
Works by François Schuiten have been translated in most European languages, including Dutch, German, Danish and English.
[edit] Awards
- 1983: Samaris, the first book of Les Cités Obscures, is chosen as one of the 20 best books of the year by French magazine Lire
- 1985: Award for the Best Comic Book at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, France
- 1987: Grand Prix at the festival of Sierre, Switzerland
- 1996: Inkpot Award, U.S.
- 1998: Special Prize of the Jury at the Max & Moritz Prizes, Erlangen, Germany
- 2002: Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême, France
- 2002: Made a baron by King Albert II of Belgium
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d De Weyer, Geert (2005). "François Schuiten". In België gestript, pp. 153-155. Tielt: Lannoo.
- ^ Officlal Belgian Expo 2005 site
- ^ Stamps page at the ebbs fan site
[edit] Further reading
- Schuiten, François (2004), "The Book of Schuiten". Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing. ISBN 1561634026
[edit] External links
- Homesite of Les Cités Obscures (French)
- Fan site (French)
- website of the restored Horta house Maison Autrique
- Biography at the Comiclopedia
- Info on the English editions of his work
- IMDb entry
- A biographical timeline, in Dutch
- The Quarxs
- Comparative analysis on the works of Francois Schuiten/Giambattista Piranesi, in Spanish
