The Great Bosc - part 2 - interview with Alain Damman

On the occasion of the Bosc exhibition in the ECC (Jan 1- April 5, 2009) I had an interview with Alain Damman, nephew of the Great Bosc and webmaster of the magnificent Bosc-site.


How many 'hits' you get when you type' bosc 'on google?
- When I type Bosc on Google, there are 3,130,000 results and I have my site on the first page, first line. Of course there are the Bosc Pears, and 3 other famous Bosc: a protentant pastor wrote many books, an anthologist and a scientist. That is why my site is named ‘J-M-Bosc’.

Are all the Bosc drawings published? Are there still unpublished Bosc cartoons?
- The 2 books that I have edited (by Cherche Midi) in 2003 and 2005 each contain 95 drawings never published before on book. Just as the book "dessins inédits” (unpublished drawings) published in 1991, these drawings were published a day in a newspaper 50 years ago ... but never in a book. - And yes, I have drawings that have never been seen by anyone. From time to time I publish one.
- On occasion I find a Bosc formerly published in a magazine that I did not know. E.g. this drawing found last week by Jean-Marie Bertin in an "Antologia" of 1957.


The bibliography of Bosc is impressive: 225 books with drawings of Bosc. What book (s) Bosc would you recommend you for a starting collector of cartoon books?
- In general, "the Boscaves" I would recommend to beginners. Many graphic art teachers advised their students this book as a bedside book.

Imagine your home is on fire, and you can save only one book. Which one would you save?
- If there was a fire, I save “Je ‘t Aime”(I love you) because it’s the book that gave him the price of black humor in Grandville in 1970.


Can we expect new books on Bosc in the future?
- I have personally edited the last 3 books published by Cherche Midi in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and the book published in German in 2008, as well as 2 beautiful catalogs: Cluny in 2007 and Zemun in 2008. - A new book will be released by Cicero in Berlin in 2010. Cherche Midi will release a new book on condition that I find in Paris a beautiful Bosc exhibition, which is so far proved impossible.

Finally: Do you know Wikipedia?
- For Wikipedia, you need to type "Bosc jean": http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bosc
Of course the French article is very insufficient, but I do not really have time to complete all search sites.

Alain, merci beaucoup pour cet interview!

Learn more (and other links):
Bosc Part 1
Bosc search on this blog