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This translation is unedited!
Guido Crepax
The Italian artist Guido Crepax - or Guido Crepas to be precise - was born in Milan on 15 July 1933 and was one of his most important representatives in the beginnings and heyday of erotic comics. A pioneer and visionary - or simply the "capo di tutti" of Italy, if not of the whole of Europe.
After secondary school, Crepax studied architecture in Milan and obtained his doctorate in 1958 - although he was not particularly interested in studying. Already during his studies he worked as an illustrator for book and record covers; predominantly classical music and jazz. Crepax captured his passion for music - especially jazz - impressively in the comic book "L?Uomo di Harlem", which was written in the late 1970s.
In 1957, Crepax designed some advertising posters for the Shell oil company, which won the "Golden Palm" of the advertising industry in Italy. After that he became a much sought-after graphic designer and illustrator for advertising agencies and magazine publishers. From 1963 to the end of the 1980s, Crepax designed numerous front pages for the medical journal Tempo Medico, as well as the humorous quiz section "Circuito interno".
Crepax's first comic strip story was called "L´Uomo invisible", which he drew as a teenager in 1945/46 - still under the influence of American comics - and was only published in 1980 as part of a bibliography.
The Italian magazine Linus published its comic series Neutron in 1965. After only three episodes, Crepax replaced the main character, the art critic and superhero Philipp Rembrandt, with the "supporting actress", reporter/photographer Valentina Rosselli. She became a star and triggered a real Crepax boom, which made the artist famous throughout Europe and beyond.
The character Valentina with her cool look and the characteristic black page cut bore the external features of the actress Louise Brooks, whom Crepax greatly admired. Crepax even maintained a regular correspondence with her, as she was visibly impressed by his "homage". The comic-strip artist John H. Striebel designed the comic-strip character Dixie Dugan years before Crepax also based on the beautiful actress.
Crepax dedicated 18 albums to this beautiful heroine Valentina in the course of his long comic career (see bibliography). Quite unusual for a comic character was that Valentina aged in the course of her album releases; to show the lack of realism in so many comic series - where characters stay young forever. Crepax: "A comic strip of crucial importance that reflects the present in which it plays should not have a main character that stays young forever as the world around it changes". The adventures of Valentina do not follow a continuous plot, but rather captivate with an indescribably imaginative and surreal narrative style that reminds us of experimental paintings, avant-garde films or opera performances. The stories often also combine three narrative levels: reality, memory and dream.
One of his most interesting erotic works is certainly Lanterna Magica, in which he tells a story on almost 100 pages without the use of a single word. With his graphic virtuosity and sophisticated layout editing technique, Crepax was able to tell an amorous and extreme story, which develops mainly in the reader's mind. "In the culinary language, this would mean that Crepax supplies the ingredients, leaving the recipe to the reader" (1). The volume L´Histoire d´O ("The History of the O"), elaborately silkscreen printed, was published in 1975 by Franco Maria Ricci in folio format and in a limited edition in both Italian and French. It is the most expensive first edition in the history of comics. The German-language edition was promptly indexed by the Federal Audit Office.
Seriously vulgar or explicit, however, Crepax never became vulgar in his comic strip. The skillful mixing of dream and reality took the possible hardship out of some clear scenes. Crepax's works have been controversially discussed time and again, mainly because of various fetish, bondage and S&M scenes that mingled with his stories.
In addition to his "main creation" Valentina, Crepax developed other characters, such as Bianca (Bianca - una storia eccessiva", 1972), or the beautiful Anita (among others Anita, "Una Storia possibile", 1974), as well as Belinda for the 1983 album of the same name (where part 1 was created in 1967 and Crepax wrote the story with a short second part.
In the album Bianca, the young heroine experiences imaginative adventures, which are told to the reader as a kind of diary entry - mixing pubescent reality and wishful thinking. The heroine Anita becomes the intellectual vehicle for Crepax, with which he describes the social dependence on mass communication media, as well as the sexual attraction of these media; even before Cronenberg's vision in Videodrom.
In addition to these new creations, he also succeeded in translating literary material into the art form of comic in an atmospheric and thoughtful manner. Apart from the already mentioned L´Histoire d´O (Dominique Aury), the extremely detailed and accurate adaptation of Justine (Marquis de Sades) should not go unmentioned (1979). One year earlier, Emmanuelle (Marayat Rollet-Andriane) had already produced the comic version. Venus im Pelz (Leopold von Sacher-Masoch) appeared in 1984, and in addition to these more erotic fabrics, Crepax also dealt with the works of Bram Stoker, Stevenson, Henry James, Kafka, and Mary Shelley.
Crepax mainly drew in black and white and was stylistically oriented towards the detailed Art Nouveau and striking pop art. For his comics, he developed new techniques of image montage - borrowed from the cinema film - and experimented with close-ups, image sequences and cropping. Crepax was also a master of quotation. References to educational content were part of his repertoire, which he uses to turn his audience into insiders. (2)
Crepax often disassembled entire action sequences and focused on individual, sometimes innumerable small images, the elements of a scene that were important to him, such as objects, body parts or gestures. For example, when an erotic moment approached its climax, the details became more intense; eyes, lips, a nipple, a penis, a vagina. This has created an incredible dynamic and exciting side by side. Crepax has perfected this cutting technique over the years and developed its own nested comic layout system. Another invention of his was the "introducing a character". First of all, in small pictures you see details of the person - eyes, lips, toes, pubic hairs - in order to see them completely later on. This creates an omnipresence that can be compared to the opening sequence of the Western classic game "The Song of Death".
His drawing technique was unusual, varied, distinctive and unmistakable. The lines, mostly drawn with pen and ink, seem almost like brushstrokes due to their dynamic style. His female figures were elegant, hagere, mostly cool and fragile looking beauties, which radiate a tremendous strength, elegance and chic.
Colored works by Crepax have remained rather rare. His first album "L´Astronave Pirata" from 1968 had only a few monochrome panels. "L´Uomi di Pskov" (1977) was the first pure color ribbon - published in the outstanding Italian book series "Un Uomo un Avventura". 1979 followed "hello, anita!" and two years later "L´Uomo di Harlem" (also for "Un Uomo un Avventura"). His figure Valentina had only one colourful adventure:"Valentina Pirata" from 1980,"Anita in directta (1988) and "Juliette" (1990) were also produced in colour. "Valentina la gazza ladra" and "in arte... Valentina" from 1992 and 2001 show "only" a few coloured accents.
Guido Crepax's artistic work has been rewarded with numerous awards and honours over the years, such as the American International Congress of Comics in 1972 in New York or the "Yellow Kid" as the best author of the Lucca Comic Book Salon.
The artist died in Milan on 31. July 2003 at the age of 70.
His extraordinary comic art influenced artists not only in Italy or Europe, but all over the world. Diving into his unusual pictorial worlds is an adventure for the sensual eye and the understanding mind. Guido Crepax has really used the enormous potential of the art form comic book - poetic, passionate, in love with detail. For him, it was not a simple sequence of individual images to tell a story, but an artistic examination of the possibilities and forms of expression offered by the Ninth Art. Guido Crepax entertains the reader with imaginative and eventful picture orgies, which are rarely found nowadays.
"Like many of his colleagues, Crepax's comic strip stories have been featured in magazines such as Linus. It would go beyond any reasonable framework of a non-scientific work to go into detail here and assign the individual episodes of the different stories in the various magazines to the respective publication dates. Since all comic strip stories (after the preprinting in the magazines) have been published in albums - newly compiled or supplemented - only the first release of the albums should be of interest here. This is the basis of the following bibliography" (3).
First publications: Since the bibliography of Guido Crepax's first publications is quite extensive, it has been moved to an additional page. There you will find the complete listing with pictures of all album covers, as well as a selection of further data on material utilization, secondary literature, etc... (3) |
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Guido Crepax Der italienische Künstler Guido Crepax - genauer Guido Crepas - wurde am 15. Juli 1933 in Mailand geboren und war in den Anfängen und der Blütezeit erotischer Comic einer seiner wichtigsten Vertreter. Ein Pionier und Visionär - oder einfach der "capo di tutti" von Italien, wenn nicht gar von ganz Europa. Nach dem Gymnasium studierte Crepax Architektur in Mailand und promovierte 1958 - und das, obwohl ihn das Studium nicht sonderlich interessierte. 1957 entwarf Crepax für den Ölkonzern Shell einige Werbeplakate, die in Italien die "Goldene Palme" der Werbewirtschaft gewannen. Danach wurde er ein durchaus gefragter Grafiker und Illustrator bei Werbeagenturen und Zeitschriftenverlagen. Für die medizinische Fachzeitschrift Tempo Medico gestaltete Crepax ab 1963 bis Ende der 1980er Jahre etliche Titelseiten, sowie die humorige Quiz-Rubrik "Circuito interno". Das italienische Magazin Linus veröffentlichte 1965 seine Comicserie Neutron. Nach nur drei Folgen ersetzte Crepax die Hauptfigur, den Kunstkritiker und Superhelden Philipp Rembrandt, durch die "Nebendarstellerin", die Reporterin/Fotografin Valentina Rosselli. Sie wurde zum Star und löste einen wahren Crepax-Boom aus, die den Künstler in ganz Europa und darüber hinaus bekannt machte. Die Figur Valentina mit ihrem kühlen Blick und dem charakteristischen schwarzen Pagenschnitt trug die äußerlichen Merkmale der Schauspielerin Louise Brooks, die Crepax sehr verehrte. Crepax widmete der schönen Heldin Valentina im Laufe seiner langen Comic-Karriere ganze 18 Alben (siehe Bibliografie). Recht ungewöhnlich für einen Comic-Charakter war, dass Valentina im Laufe ihrer Albenveröffentlichungen alterte; um den Mangel an Realismus in so vielen Comicserien - wo Figuren ewig jung bleiben - aufzuzeigen. Eines seiner interessantesten erotischen Werke ist sicherlich Lanterna Magica, in dem er auf fast 100 Seiten eine Geschichte ohne die Verwendung eines einzigen Wortes erzählt. Mit seiner grafischen Virtuosität und raffinierten Layout-Schnitttechnik schaffte es Crepax, eine amouröse und extreme Geschichte zu erzählen, die sich vor allem im Kopf des Lesers entwickelt. Der aufwendig in Siebdruck hergestellte Band L´Histoire d´O ("Die Geschichte der O") wurde 1975 von Franco Maria Ricci im Folio-Format und in limitierter Auflage sowohl in italienischer als auch französischer Sprache veröffentlicht. Es ist die teuerste Erstausgabe in der Geschichte der Comics. Neben seiner "Hauptschöpfung" Valentina entwickelte Crepax weitere Charaktere, wie zum Beispiel Bianca (Bianca - una storia eccessiva", 1972), oder die schöne Anita (u.a. Anita, "Una Storia possibile", 1974), sowie Belinda für das gleichnamige Album aus dem Jahr 1983 (wobei Teil 1 bereits 1967 entstand und Crepax die Geschichte mit einem kurzen zweiten Teil vervollständigte). Im Album Bianca erlebt die junge Heldin fantasievolle Abenteuer, die dem Leser als eine Art Tagebucheintrag - indem sich pubertäre Wirklichkeit und Wunschdenken vermischen - erzählt werden. Neben diesen Neuschöpfungen gelang es ihm auch literarischen Stoff stimmungsvoll und bedachtsam in die Kunstform Comic zu übersetzen. Abgesehen von der bereits erwähnten L´Histoire d´O (Dominique Aury), sollte die überaus detailreiche und akkurate Adaption von Justine (Marquis de Sades) nicht unerwähnt bleiben (1979). Ein Jahr zuvor entstand bereits die Comicumsetzung zu Emmanuelle (Marayat Rollet-Andriane). Venus im Pelz (Leopold von Sacher-Masoch) erschien 1984. Neben diesen eher erotischen Stoffen beschäftigte sich Crepax zudem mit den Werken von Bram Stoker, Stevenson, Henry James, Kafka, und Mary Shelley. Crepax zeichnete überwiegend in schwarz-weiß und orientierte sich stilistisch am detailreichen Jugendstil und der plakativen Pop-Art. Er entwickelte für seine Comics neue Techniken der Bildmontage - dem Kinofilm entliehen - und experimentierte mit Nahaufnahmen, Bildabfolgen und -ausschnitten. Crepax war zudem ein Meister des Zitats. Anspielungen auf Bildungsinhalte gehörten zu seinem Repertoire, mit dem er sein Publikum zu Insidern macht. (2) Crepax zerlegte oft ganze Handlungssequenzen und fokussierte in einzelnen, manchmal unzähligen kleinen Bildern, die für ihn wichtigen Elemente einer Szene, wie Gegenstände, Körperteile oder Gesten. Näherte sich zum Beispiel ein erotischer Augenblick seinem Höhepunkt, wurden die Details intensiver; Augen, Lippen, eine Brustwarze, ein Penis, eine Vagina. Dadurch entwickelte sich Seite für Seite eine unglaubliche Dynamik und Spannung. Crepax hat diese Ausschnittstechnik im Laufe der Jahre perfektioniert und sein eigenes verschachteltes Comiclayout-System entwickelt. Eine weitere Erfindung von ihm, war das "Vorstellen eines Charakters". Zuerst sieht man in kleinen Bildern Einzelheiten der Person - Augen, Lippen, Zehen, Schamhaare -, um sie erst Seiten später vollständig zu erblicken. So entsteht eine Allgegenwart, die man vergleichen könnte mit der Anfangssequenz des Westernklassikers Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod. Seine Zeichentechnik war ungewöhnlich, variantenreich, markant und unverwechselbar. Die meist mit Feder und Tusche gezeichneten Linien wirken durch ihren dynamischen Stil fast wie Pinselstriche. Farbige Arbeiten von Crepax sind eher selten geblieben. Sein erstes Album "L´Astronave Pirata" aus dem Jahr 1968 hatte nur einige einfarbige Panels. Guido Crepax künstlerische Arbeit wurde im Laufe der Jahre mit zahlreichen Preisen und Ehrungen bedacht, wie zum Beispiel dem "American International Congress of Comics" 1972 in New York oder dem "Yellow Kid" als bester Autor vom Comic Salon in Lucca. Der Künstler verstarb am 31. Juli 2003 im Alter von 70 Jahren in Mailand. "Wie bei vielen seiner Kollegen wurden auch die Comicgeschichten von Crepax in Magazinen (wie zum Beispiel Linus) vorveröffentlicht. Es würde jeden vernünftigen Rahmen einer nicht wissenschaftlichen Arbeit sprengen, hier ins Detail zu gehen und die einzelnen Folgen der verschiedenen Geschichten in den diversen Magazinen den jeweiligen Veröffentlichungsdaten zuzuordnen. Erstveröffentlichungen: Links: Quellen/Sources: |
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