In partnership with Les Arts Frontières, Éditions Dargaud, the Pays de Gex Tourist Office, Delastre Films and Oblique Art Production, the Centre des monuments nationaux is presenting the exhibition "Mézières, étoile du 9ième art" from February 10 to June 23, 2024 at the Château de Voltaire. This retrospective showcases the rich universe of Jean-Claude Mézières, the legendary illustrator of Valérian et Laureline, through an incredible collection of original drawings and plates from the author's archives. Jean-Claude Mézières (1938-2022) was one of the leading artists of the 9th Art. With scriptwriter Pierre Chistin, he created the comic strip Valérian et Laureline, whose first adventure appeared in the 1967 issue of Pilote. Christin and Mézières, joined by colorist Évelyne Tranlé, created Valérian, a masterpiece of science-fiction comics. The series includes twenty-three albums, translated in over twenty countries, and was adapted for film by Luc Besson in 2017.
Heir to the classicism of Jijé and Franquin, and steeped in the American influence of Mad Magazine, Mézières defined himself as a painstaking draftsman. He was rarely satisfied and always convinced he could do better. He built a rare body of work on this demand, and has been a benchmark for generations of cartoonists. This major exhibition, the first since Mézières' death in 2022, highlights how this major artist shaped his style, like fighting a battle, to create a body of work that revolutionized Science Fiction in comics, and beyond... This spring, Château de Voltaire and its partners invite you to travel through time and space, to discover a unique selection of Mézières' original works: from unpublished early drawings to original museum plates, not forgetting his work as a film designer... Some one hundred works will be presented, selected from the Jean-Claude Mézières archives.
Ouverture
From 10/02 to 31/03/2024 between 10 am and 5 pm.
From 01/04 to 23/06/2024 between 10 am and 6 pm.
Tarifs
Full price: 15 €.
Contact et accès Allée du Château 01210 Ferney-Voltaire Ain (1)
