Claire BRETÉCHER, Catherine MEURISSE, Aude PICAULT

Three creative artists. Three illustrators. Three pens. One common denominator: the mark on the page - the medium that enables these three artists to communicate their razor-sharp observation of the world.

Claire Bretécher is a pioneer, a key figure in the world of comics illustration, whose work was the focus of a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou (held in the BPI) in 2015. Bretécher was the first woman in the world of French comics to invent an original language for short stories resolutely addressed to an adult public. From her early days working for the illustrated press to the creation of her albums, this queen of humour forged a new graphic and narrative style that would influence a whole generation of female illustrators.

Catherine Meurisse is a cartoonist and an illustrator for the press, a long-time member of the Charlie Hebdo team. Meurisse has a mercilessly sharp eye and spares nobody to her readers' great delight.  From Mes hommes de lettres to Grands espaces, via La Légèreté, Moderne Olympia and Scènes de la vie hormonale, an incredible energy invests her drawing, which is placed in the service of a unique writing style.

Aude Picault began her career in comics with an autobiographical work, Moi je, full of humour and self-mockery. Equally at home using Indian ink and watercolour, the artist draws on her life and her observations to illustrate the foibles of her contemporaries in both short stories (L'Air de rien) and longer narratives (Fanfare, Transat, Idéal Standard). 

This year, Alain Huberty and Marc Breyne are delighted to be showing a selection of drawings by these three artists, and are inviting visitors to Drawing Now to open their eyes and observe the connections that exist between one plate or one original illustration and another.