Jan Bosschaert (born 15 December 1957) is a Belgian

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

artist, painter and illustrator, best known for the comic series ''Sam'' and ''

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'', and his illustrations for the books of

Marc De Bel Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system of ...

Biography

Jan Bosschaert was born in

Borgerhout Borgerhout () is the smallest district of Antwerp, Belgium. , the district houses 45,769 inhabitants on 3,93 km². It was an independent municipality until January 1983. The postal area code for Borgerhout is 2140. Geography Borgerhout is divide ...

in Flanders in 1957.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jan Bosschaert". In België gestript, pp. 93–95. Tielt: Lannoo. He was 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 spend 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 Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

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 also loved the work of André Franquin which he discovered at the age of 14 at a comics fair in Brussels. His puberty was a rather unhappy period, where Bosschaert withdrew into his own world and into music. He listened to artists like Tom Waits or

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

, but kept on drawing. When he was 18 years old, he visited comics author Pom. Seeing the poverty the author lives in is quite a shock, but it didn't stop him of becoming an artist himself. When he studied at the Sint-Lukasinstituut, the Art Academy of Brussels, he discovered the work of illustrator Ever Meulen, a former student of the same school, which greatly influenced him. Another great influence was '' Arzach'', the textless comic by

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. Influences outside the world of comics came from the dominant styles of his youth, punk and new wave music. Bosschaert published his first work in ( À Suivre), and produced his first published comic album in 1982 with ''Ikarus'', but his breakthrough was the political-satirical comic strip ''Pest in 't Paleis'' (''Pest in the Palace''), which appeared in '' HUMO'' in 1983. But Bosschaert quit making comics and worked for the rest of the decade primarily as an illustrator for different magazines, including '' Playboy'', and authors like Hugo Claus. His main illustrative work appeared first in publications of the Flemish television network VRT, and later in publications of publisher Altiora and popular children's book author

, whom he considers as a kindred spirit and an older brother. He also continued 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 started in 1990, with stories by Marc Legendre. ''Sam'' tells the adventures of an adolescent girl working in a small garage. The series came to a halt after 8 albums though, and translations were unsuccessful. While Bosschaert tried to limit his purely commercial work to a few jobs a year, he made an exception for people he feels connected to. He created ''King Kong Kooks'' as a catalogue annex comic for fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck. More international recognition followed from 2001 on, when he collaborated with comics author

Jean Dufaux Jean Dufaux (; born 7 June 1949) is a Belgian comic book writer. Beginning his professional career as a journalist for "CINÉ-PRESSE", Dufaux started writing comic books in the 1980s. Perhaps his most well-known, and certainly his most long-runn ...

on ''

'', a fantasy series published by Casterman and translated in French and Spanish. Local success in Flanders came when he collaborates with comedian Urbanus on ''De Geverniste Vernepelingskes'', a series which parodies famous Belgians, including the two authors. Bosschaert illustrated album covers for musical artists like The Paranoiacs, Pitti Polak, Plastic Bertrand and Jan De Wilde.

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 Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium * 1991: Bronzen Adhemar, Turnhout, Belgium * 2003: Best Author (Dutch language) at the Prix Saint-Michel, Brussels, Belgium

Notes

External links

Homepage
(French and Dutch)

(Dutch)

(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bosschaert, Jan 1957 births Living people People from Borgerhout Belgian comics artists Belgian painters Belgian illustrators Belgian children's book illustrators Belgian caricaturists Album-cover and concert-poster artists