Cartoonist Claire Bretécher, a groundbreaking comic book creator and one of the first prominent French female cartoonists, has died at the age of 79. Bretécher was a pioneer for women in the field, generating acclaim throughout the late 20th century for her social-satirical cartoons. She was best known for her work on the series “Les Frustrés,” and as the creator of the spoiled French teenager Agrippine.
Bretécher was born in Nantes in 1940. She first broke into the industry with her illustration of “Asterix” creator René Goscinny’s text strip “Le Facteur Rhésus” in the magazine L’Os à Moelle in 1963. She became a regular contributor to the magazine Pilote beginning in 1969. Within their pages she created the character Cellulite, who she used to satirize the excesses of feminism.
She was known particularly for her work on women, gender issues, and sexuality, including “Les Frustrés.” The astute social commentary and observations in “Les Frustres” spurred French linguist Roland Barthes to label her “the best sociologist of the year” in 1973. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, she self-published a number of successful books, including “Le Cordon Infernal,” “La Vie Passionnée de Thérèse d’Avila,” and “Les Mères.” In 1988, she created the “Agrippine” series, following a disaffected adolescent dealing with growing up in a consumerist world. Bretécher retired from cartooning with the publishing of her eighth and final “Agrippine” book in 2009.
“She was one of the pioneers of this literary genre and imposed a style, a tone and an offbeat gaze that was of total originality,” her publishers Dargaud said in a statement. “Bretécher traced a path that was unique in the comic book. Her humour and spirit of mind were immense.”
