Brussels & the Art of the Graphic Novel

This week on the Artworks Feature, we’re taking you inside the pictorial world of the Bande Dessinée—the Graphic Novel. It’s an art-form that Belgians claim as their own—with Brussels as its spiritual home.

Now if you grew up with the stories of Tin Tin and Asterix, you might have been vaguely aware that they originated in Belgium.

But did you know of the reverence that Belgians have for their graphic storytellers—who they hold up alongside their greatest classical painters?

For Artworks, Michael Shirrefs visited Brussels to learn why, for Belgians, comic books are more than a passing phase of childhood.

Listen to the program here …

Artist Geert De Weyer, from the book België Gesstript (Belgium Stripped)

Broadcast on Artworks, ABC RN, on 14-8-2011

Guests

Willem De Graeve

Reynold Leclercq

Nicolas Vadot

Credits

Michael Shirrefs, Producer

© 2011, Michael Shirrefs & ABC RN