A beautifully designed and lushly produced art book, from Paris' premier bande dessinee art gallery, every piece is reproduced from the original art.

Willy Maltaite (1927 - 2000), better known by the pseudonym Will, was a Belgian bande dessinée creator and artist. Will is considered one of the Gang of Four (which also included André Franquin, Morris, and Jijé), and a founding member of the "Marcinelle School" style of Franco-Belgian comic art seen in the Journal de Spirou. Wil is best known for his long 39-album run on Tif et Tondu, a Belgian comic book series about a pair of private investigators.

From the publisher:

This Biography in Pictures collection presents Will, artist of Tif et Tondu and pillar of the Journal de Spirou. This beautiful book brings together known and forgotten drawings by the author as well as many unpublished artworks.

The text accompanying the drawings are taken from interviews given by Will throughout his career. The book is made up of chapters covering the major periods of his work:

his apprenticeship with Jijé,
his emergence in the pages of Spirou with the famous Tif and Tondu,
his beautiful escape to a poetic comic with the Isabelle series that he invented with Macherot, Franquin and Delporte,
his paintings in wash, in watercolor, then in oil, first executed in the secrecy of the workshop then exhibited in France and Belgium,
and finally his albums in direct colors for which, at the age of sixty, he reinvented his way of drawing and used his mastery of comics and his talents as a painter in the same album.

Resume:

La collection Biographie en images propose de redécouvrir Will, dessinateur de Tif et Tondu et pilier du Journal de Spirou. Ce beau livre rassemble des dessins connus ou oubliés de l'auteur et de nombreux inédits.

Les textes accompagnant les dessins sont extraits d'entretiens accordés par Will tout au long de sa carrière. Le livre est constitué de chapitres reprenant les grandes périodes de son oeuvre : son apprentissage auprès de Jijé, son éclosion dans les pages de Spirou avec les célèbres Tif et Tondu, son échappée belle vers une bande dessinée poétique avec la série Isabelle qu'il invente avec Macherot, Franquin et Delporte, ses peintures au lavis, à l'aquarelle puis à l'huile, d'abord exécutées dans le secret de l'atelier puis exposées en France et en Belgique et enfin ses albums en couleurs directes pour lesquels, à soixante ans passés, il réinvente sa façon de dessiner et utilise dans un même album sa maîtrise de la bande dessinée et ses talents de peintre.

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