The Huberty & Breyne gallery is delighted to announce its  forthcoming exhibition "Titeuf, 30 ans de dessins", due to run from 2  December 2022 to 21 January 2023. 

This is an exceptional exhibition in more than one respect. It marks  three decades of artistic activity by Zep, the creator of Titeuf, and  brings to the market works of rare originality. To date, more than 20  million copies of Titeuf have sold worldwide and the adventures of  Titeuf have reached more than 25 countries, including China. The  exhibition, which coincides with the publication by Éditions Glénat of  Zep's Titeuf, le livre d'or, 30e anniversaire (cf. below) is also  remarkable from an educational perspective, since it offers children the  opportunity to observe the various stages in the creation of a comic,  from first rough sketch to original inked plate. 

Brought together are a selection of drawings illustrating the life  and graphic journey of Zep's famous comic book hero, including  preparatory sketches, covers, original plates and promotional drawings  from 1993, the year of Titeuf's creation up until today. This  exceptional selection enables the viewer to follow the evolution of the  drawings and to see how, with the production of each new album, Zep has  consolidated his drawing style in the service of a wonderfully  accomplished graphic narration. 

Specially for the exhibition, the Huberty & Breyne gallery is  bringing out a poster showing an original unpublished drawing by Zep, in  two different editions, including a luxury edition. Three hundred  copies of Titeuf, le livre d'or, published by Editions Glénat with a new  cover, will also be offered for sale, some of them signed by Zep. 

Titeuf 

Since he was first created in 1993, Titeuf has been enchanting  generations of readers across the globe. The character was the product  of random scribblings in a sketchbook when Zep was delving into memories  of his childhood. Taking his inspiration from his own life, the author  has succeeded in creating a rich, moving and funny universe in which we  can all see ourselves reflected. Delicately and elegantly, Titeuf  plunges us back into childhood, taking us through a vast sweep of  emotions, from laughter to melancholy and tenderness. His stories, in  the form of gags, often have a bitter-sweet quality, especially when  they deal with important themes like racism and unemployment... whereas  stories of playground antics and budding romances unfailingly provoke a  laugh. 

Zep 

Celebrated today as a key figure in the world of comic books,  Philippe Chappuis, aka Zep, was born on 15 December 1967 in Onex, in the  canton of Geneva. In 2004, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville  d'Angoulême for lifetime achievement. At the time of creating Titeuf,  Zep would have had little idea just how iconic his character would  become: he could not have known that he would be a genuine publishing  phenomenon. In 2004, Zep teamed up with Tébo to launch the Captain  Biceps series, adapted and broadcast on France 3. He revived the  collaboration in 2008 with the publication of Comment dessiner ? and the  same year he collaborated with Stan and Vince on Chronokids, which  chronicles the adventures of two children who have the ability to travel  back in time. In 2011, volume 3 in this series received the prize for  best children's series at the International Comics Festival in  Angoulême. In 2009, Zep published Happy Sex (Delcourt), aimed at a more  adult audience, and followed this with Happy Girls and Happy Rock. He wrote and produced the film Titeuf, which was launched in April  2011. In September 2013, Zep published Une histoire d'hommes, a very  different sort of offering, an album with straightforwardly realistic  graphics that investigates the buried passions and desires of a group of  erstwhile musicians. The following year, Zep returned to humour with  Happy Parents, an album about parent-child relationships that is both  funny and touching, as well as a special Chronokids album focusing on  the great inventions of History. In 2014, in addition to the 14th Titeuf  album, Bienvenue en adolescence !, Zep published an erotic work with  drawings by Vince, Esmera (Glénat). He continued to explore more  realistic narratives with Un bruit étrange et beau, which can be seen as  an ode to freedom and simplicity. In 2018, he flirted with science fiction and esotericism in The End  and the following year wrote Paris 2119, with drawings by Dominique  Bertail. In 2022, he published Ce que nous sommes, a transhumanist  thriller for which he produced both the text and the drawings. 

Private view Thursday, December 1, 2022, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., open to the public

Exhibition from December 2, 2022 to January 21, 2023