François Schuiten Ex-libris : Homage to Franquin

SCHUITEN François

François SCHUITEN is a cartoonist and Belgian set designer. The son (and grandson) of an architect, his creation is heavily influenced by this legacy.
At 16 he published his first story in Pilote (Mutation). He studied comics at the Institut Saint-Luc and with Claude Renard. From 1977 to 1980, he participated in the first three volumes of the 9th Dream, from which will emerge the new generation of Belgian comic books (Alain Goffin, André Juillard, Benoit Sokal, Philippe Berthet, Benoit Peeters).
From 1977, he also published in Metal Hurlant, working with Claude Renard for Le Rail in 1982. But it was in 1983, with Benoit Peeters, that he began the publication of his most emblematic series The Obscure Cities, with The Walls of Samaria.
Located in a parallel universe but with many similarities with ours, The Obscure Cities has been awarded many prizes. Its narrative inventiveness and graphic completion make it, in 12 volumes, one of the flagship works of modern comics.
When he doesn’t work with Peeters, Schuiten walks the arcana of Belgian comics with Goffin or Renard. He also knows how to diversify, by working for the cinema (Mr Nobody de Jaco Van Dormael), by reinventing metro stations (both in Brussels and Paris), or by designing the scenography of the train museum at Schaerbeek station! The train is the famous Type 12, the Atlantic steam locomotive that he travels through this new page of history that is close to his heart (La Douce, 2012) in graphics that lend themselves very well to his way of tangling the lines, to show that human constructions always have a small labyrinth side !
In 2019, he announces to end his career as a comic book writer, after spending 4 years on aBlake and Mortimer album, The Last Pharaoh, on a script by Thomas Gunzig and Jaco Van Dormael.
These funny flying machines that make us rethink the space of our cities are going to miss us !

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