2000 Figaro Magazine
of September 23, 2000
Figaro Magazine of
September 23 2000 n°17455, pages 154 and 155, "Loustal,: Simenon
has the trace" ( "Loustal:
Simenon a la trace")
Advertisement,
comic strip, illustration of novels and sleeves of disks,
jacques of Loustal imposed itself by an atmosphere made of
permanence and mystery of the Simenon in painting.
Loustal
Simenon to the trace by Sebastian Lapaque
Virtuoso and nonchalant, Jacques of Loustal draws and
paints like others write. Today, he takes in mill
commissioner Maigret.
Paris,
the shop of Jacques of Loustal is installed a channel very
close to. It is enough to declare the drawer predestined to
become attached to the universe of Georges Simenon. Grants his
work, one finds other signs annonciateurs of his meeting with
the novelist to the four hundred books. Himself underlines
some of it.
-
I always felt greatly the atmospheres of Simenon. Jaime well
the way of which he/it describes his/its characters, the
ambiance grants which yews evolve. Their solitude
touches me a
lot.
He/it advances a proof of the seniority of his passion besides
-
I passed my architect's diploma with one memory on "The
landscape of the channel." II was there question of to
perception of the channel in literature, notably at Georges
Simenon.
Two
universes made to meet
A
long time Loustal was surrounded by Simenon. That one thinks
of these details stolen on the outskirts of his shop: a
taciturn sinner strap on his cigarette, of the ducks shivering
on the green water, a towpath above of which slips a Flemish
sky. A decor moved away of those that assured the renown of
Loustal, too elegant not to make himself of it the
caricatures:
- A palm, a musician, a small dog.
The clouds, Loustal often represented them fluffy and white,
as the plumes of steam that escape of the chimney of the
ships. his first work of illustration dedicated to Simenon
concerned a southern novel logically: Touriste de
bananes (Vertige Graphic, 1998). The moving history of
the installation been lacking in Tahiti of a young man who
dreamed of one heedless life on the sides of a lagoon.
So Loustal is satisfied with this first confrontation with
the writer's universe, he underlines that she was belated.
Ten years before, the persons responsible of the Futuropolis
editions - Gallimard, for that Tardi worked on Céline, had
already proposed him to illustrate a work of his choice. II
had thought about two books of Simenon: le Coup de lune,
a novel of 1933 taking place in Africa, and Quartier
nègre, published in 1935 and situated at Panama. To
the time, the father of Maigret was even living. Knowing it
very attentive to the transfer of his rights, Loustal had
sent him a set of preparatory drawings. No agreement of
publishers had can be concluded yet. It is Under the cold
light, of Pierre Mac Orlan, that had finally benefitted from
his pictures.
Some years later, his meeting with Marc Simenon, the
novelist's eldest son, and Mylène Demongeot, his wife,
offered him the opportunity to forget this unsuccessful
appointment. To the editions Dizziness Graphic, that
suggested him to illustrate At the heart of darkness, of
Joseph Conrad - -« un livre trop métaphysique, trop
sérieux »-, the drawer proposed the edition
illustrated of a Simenon.
- To the time, I thought in a group of a transposition
drawn. This work on Tourist of bananas allowed me of fair
a first reading in depth of a Simenon, with one or two
drawings by chapter, to see what it gave I realized that
Simenon was difficult to adopt drawn in a group.
Artist to the infinite grants, inventor in a recognizable
manner between all, dedicated by his illustrations for the
press and the advertisement, his paintings, his posters, his
sleeves of disks, Loustal comes back to the book as the
migratory bird to his nest.
- It is my universe, I always bathed in a literary
environment.
To 44 years, this illustrator traveler, who published his
first drawings at the end of the years 70 in Rock & Folk
and howling Metal, can flatter itself dune advantageous
bibliography. II made itself a name in the big world of the
comic French while working with Philippe Paringaux, Tito
Topin, Jean-Luc Fromental, Jérôme Charyn.
II
illustrates Mac Orlan and Coatalem
Of
Italy, of Morocco, of Israel, of Mexico, of Argentina, of the
japon, of Greece, of the United States, of China, he/it
returned three Notebooks) of journeys (Doorstep, 1997-1999).
The illustration of novels and complete news the agreement
perfects that it wished to achieve always between text and
picture. Besides novels of Pierre Mac Orlan and Georges
Simenon, he illustrated les Contes de la forêt vierge
and les Lettres d'un chasseur, of Quiroga
Horacio (Doorstep-Métailié, 1998 and 2000), without forgetting
50 000 dinars, a news of Jean-Luc Coatalem (to Report,
1995), that must him the cover of three of his books and of
which he/it gets ready to transpose another news in a group
drawn.
Maigret,
it is the pipe, the hat, the raincoat,
Jacques of Loustal, who didn't lose anything of the dandysme
displayed by the title of one of his first books (Une
Vespa, des lunettes noires, une palm beach, elles
voudraient en plus que j'aie de la conversation), nor
of the tenderness affected by one the next one (A romantic
boy), is a traveler to the long course. II pursues its
inspiration as far as Achab Moby Dick. In a pocket of his
bag to back, a small notebook contains its notes of reading.
Of the books of Henri Calet, of Tennessee Williams, of Jack
London, of Herman Melville, of Francisco Coloane, of Truman
Capote,. And of the Simenons, a lot of Simenons,: the blue
Room, red lights, L' Eldest of the Ferchauxes, Long towers,
the staircase of iron, the Travelers of All Saints' Day, the
Flight of Mr. Monde...
When he/it was proposed him to illustrate two news putting
in stage commissioner Maigret for the collection Omnibus,
Loustal hesitated.
- Too many incarnations to the television, to the movies.
I didn't want to make especially of Maigret a stereotyped
hero, as in some comic strips.
Wanting to feel "the eternal enjoyment of the constraint"
loved by Baudelaire probably, he/it ends up being interested
in these unexpected texts, left immersed from the Simenon
iceberg: the most obstinate Customer of the world and One
doesn't kill the poor types. Composed in 1946 by a Simenon
exiled in America, these narrations filled of characters
attacked by the doubt called the nonchalant art of Loustal.
II achieved for each of them about fifteen drawings in black
and white, to the feather, heightened to the pencil.
- For Maigret, I was content with a silhouette: the pipe,
the raincoat, the hat.
Loustal? The style.
«
Carnets » Omnibus, 108 p., 60 F.
« Carnets » Omnibus, 108 p., 60 F.
En librairie le 28 septembre 2000.
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Maigret
seen by Loustal. Drawing achieved for Le Figaro Magazine
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