This genius of American comics, awarded the Grand Prix at the 2021 Angoulême Festival, is being honored at the Bibliothèque publique d’information (Bpi) at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. For thirty years, the artist who defines himself as a “book artist” has explored all the richness and potential of the 9th Art.

The exhibition presents a wide range of his work between original plates, notebooks, rare prints, and sketches, tracing his graphic and narrative evolution: from his first drawings in the underground magazine Raw to his books (Jimmy Corrigan, Building Stories, Rusty Brown), his animated films (Quimby the Mouse, Mirror) and his covers for the New Yorker. Not to mention his famous Acme Novelty Library issues in the 90s. But his production goes even further, including models, sculptures, and various constructions. Chris Ware is thus a complete artist, a mad author of architecture and a perfectionist craftsman of the book-object, of which he follows each stage of production. By creating a new kind of literary work, he has masterfully redrawn the arcane language of comics. 

Nathalie Dassa

Chris Ware Exhibition

Until October 10, 2022

Bibliothèque publique d’information du Centre Pompidou (Paris 4th). Free admission. 

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/programme/agenda/evenement/m4cuua1