There is only one word for it in French: Bande dessinée. It includes graphic novels, comics, comic strips, comic book series, serial comics, mangas: All genres, without specifying size, format or quality, and without any hierarchical differentiation. So says Alexis “Matz” Nolent, who curated Made in France: 8 Artists and the Graphic Novel at New York’’s Foundation 20 21 in early 2008. That work is now collected in this paper slipcased volume, which contains one staple-bound booklet for each artist–Paolo Bacilieri, Christian de Metter, Jean-Claude Götting, Miles Hyman, Lax, Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert and Sergio Toppi–as well as an exhibition poster. “Beyond the differences among the artists represented here, the idea is also to show the diversity that can exist at the heart of the work of a single artist, specifically between the work he accomplishes in the context of the bande dessinée and the more personal works he does for himself, in the secrecy of his studio or drawing table, to train or amuse himself.”
