Paul Cuvelier (22 November 1923 – 5 July 1978) was a Belgian

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

artist best known for the comic series '' Corentin'', published by

Le Lombard Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...

, which first appeared in the first issue of ''

Tintin Tintin usually refers to: * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to: Material related to ''The A ...

'' magazine.

Biography

Paul Cuvelier was born in

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 1923.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Paul Cuvelier". In België gestript, pp. 100–101. Tielt: Lannoo. He was the third of seven children of doctor Charles Cuvelier, who was an amateur painter.Auquier, Jean (1999). "Paul Cuvelier". In Hommage: 9 zegels voor de 9de kunst, pp. 6–11. Brussels: Belgisch Centrum voor het Beeldverhaal. From his early youth on, his main passion was drawing, and he had his first work published in ''

Le Petit Vingtième ''Le Petit Vingtième'' (, ''The Little Twentieth'') was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgium, Belgian newspaper ''Le Vingtième Siècle'' ("The Twentieth Century") from 1928 to 1940. The comics series ''The Adventures of Tintin'' first ap ...

'' when he was only seven years old. After studying

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

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Enghien Enghien (; ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1January 2006, Enghien had a total population of 11,980. The total area is , which gives a population density of 295 inhabitants per km2. ...

, he began taking art classes at the academy of

Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...

for a few months, but left when his teacher declared that there was nothing left that he could teach him. He made his debut in the youth magazine ''Bravo'' in 1946 with the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

comic ''Tom Colby'', written by

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

and Edgar Pierre Jacobs. He was one of the first artists to be contacted for the new ''

'' magazine, which started in 1946. For ''Tintin'', he created his main comics series, '' Corentin''. Trained as a painter, Cuvelier was recognized by his peers as one of the most talented artists, but his series only achieved limited success, and Cuvelier spent his whole career alternating between painting and comics. His main interest was the human body, but the catholic context and juvenile audience of ''Tintin'' limited his expressive possibilities. ''Corentin'' was his longest lasting series, but with only seven albums published in a span of 25 years, it failed to attract a large and faithful audience; his other series were even more short-lived. In 1968, he was able to combine his passion for the female nude and his gift for drawing comics in ''

Epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or Curing (chemistry), cured end products of epoxy Resin, resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide fun ...

'', a fantasy about the

Greek gods In ancient Greece, deities were regarded as immortal, anthropomorphic, and powerful. They were conceived of as individual persons, rather than abstract concepts or notions, and were described as being similar to humans in appearance, albeit larg ...

written by

Jean Van Hamme Jean Van Hamme (born 16 January 1939) is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including ''Histoire sans héros'', '' Thorgal'', '' XIII'' and ''Largo Winch''. Biography ...

, which is considered to be one of the first adult comics of Europe. Ultimately, the lack of commercial success and the burden on his creativity of repeatedly drawing the same figures, inherent to the creation of comics, wore Cuvelier out, and from 1973 until his death 5 years later, he devoted his time to painting. He died in 1978 in Mont-sur-Marchienne.

Bibliography

* ''Le Canyon mystérieux'', 1 album, 1947, story by

and Edgar Pierre Jacobs. Editions du Berger * ''Corentin'', 7 albums, 1950–1974, stories by Jean Van Melkebeke, Cuvelier, Greg, Acar, and

and

Dargaud Société Dargaud (), doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943. ...

* ''

'', 1 album, 1968, erotic story by Jean Van Hamme. Éric Losfeld * ''Flamme d'argent'', 3 albums, 1965–1981, story by Greg. Le Lombard, Dargaud, and Cygne * ''Line'', 5 albums, 1966–1985, story by Greg. Le Lombard, Dargaud, and Bédéscope * ''Wapi'', 2 albums, 1969–1981, story by Benoît and Acar. Le Lombard and Dargaud

Awards

* 1974: Award for best realistic artwork at the

Prix Saint-Michel The Prix Saint-Michel () is a series of comic awards presented by the city of Brussels, with a focus on Franco-Belgian comics. They were first awarded in 1971, and although often said to be the oldest European comics awards, they are actually the ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

References

* Béra, Michel; Denni, Michel; and Mellot, Philippe (1998): "Trésors de la Bande Dessinée 1999–2000".

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Les éditions de l'amateur.
Paul Cuvelier publications in Belgian ''Tintin''
an

BDoubliées Footnotes

External links

The Paul Cuvelier foundation

on Lambiek Comiclopedia
Paul Cuvelier biography
on Le Lombard
Paul Cuvelier homage site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuvelier, Paul 1923 births 1978 deaths People from Hainaut (province) Belgian comics artists Belgian erotic artists Walloon people 20th-century Belgian painters Tintin (magazine) people