{{Short description|Belgian comics artist, painter and illustrator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox person | name = Jan Bosschaert | image = Portet Jan Bosschaert.jpg | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1957|12|15}} | occupation = comics artist, painter, illustrator }}
'''Jan Bosschaert''' (born 15 December 1957) is a Belgian comics artist, painter and illustrator, best known for the humorous adventure comic series ''Sam'' and ''{{ill|Jaguar (Belgian comic)|lt=Jaguar|nl|Jaguar (strip)}}'', and his illustrations for the books of Marc De Bel.
==Biography== Jan Bosschaert was born in Borgerhout in Flanders in 1957.<ref name=Weyer>De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Jan Bosschaert". In België gestript, pp. 93–95. Tielt: Lannoo.</ref> He was raised in Wijnegem, close to the forest, in a house with a large garden.<ref name=Onraedt>Onraedt, Lieven (1996). "De grote Vlaamse tekenaars 5: Jan Bosschaert". Comic Events.</ref> He spend most of his free time drawing. He made his first comic when he was about 10, and continued in the next years with comics in different genres, ranging from Sherlock Holmes stories to his own version of ''Lucky Luke''. One of his comics, about two senior scouts, he shows to established comics creator Eddy Ryssack, whose main advice is to make sure everything is well documented. He also loved the work of André Franquin which he discovered at the age of 14 at a comics fair in Brussels.<ref name=Onraedt/>
His puberty was a rather unhappy period, where Bosschaert withdrew into his own world and into music. He listened to artists like Tom Waits or Jackson Browne, but kept on drawing. When he was 18 years old, he visited comics author Pom. Seeing the poverty the author lived in was quite a shock, but it didn't stop him of becoming an artist himself.<ref name=Onraedt/>
When he studied at the Sint-Lukasinstituut, the Art Academy of Brussels, he discovered the work of illustrator Ever Meulen, a former student of the same school, which greatly influenced him. Another great influence was ''Arzach'', the textless comic by Moebius. Influences outside the world of comics came from the dominant styles of his youth, punk and new wave music.<ref name=Weyer/>
Bosschaert published his first work in (À Suivre), and produced his first published comic album in 1982 with ''Ikarus'', but his breakthrough was the political-satirical comic strip ''Pest in 't Paleis'' (''Pest in the Palace'', scripted by Guido van Meir, 1983), which appeared in ''HUMO''. But Bosschaert quit making comics and worked for the rest of the decade primarily as an illustrator for different magazines, including ''Playboy'', and authors like Hugo Claus. His main illustrative work appeared first in publications of the Flemish television network VRT, and later in publications of publisher Altiora and popular children's book author Marc De Bel, whom he considers as a kindred spirit and an older brother.<ref name=Onraedt/>
He also continued to make paintings, mainly female nudes and erotic works. Bosschaert is a purely figurative painter, who prefers clarity over concepts.<ref name=Onraedt/>
His first longer running comic series started in 1990, with stories by Marc Legendre. ''Sam'' tells the adventures of an adolescent girl working in a small garage. The series came to a halt after 8 albums though, and translations were unsuccessful. While Bosschaert tried to limit his purely commercial work to a few jobs a year, he made an exception for people he feels connected to. He created ''King Kong Kooks'' as a catalogue annex comic for fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck.<ref name=Onraedt/>
More international recognition followed from 2001 on, when he collaborated with comics author Jean Dufaux on ''{{ill|Jaguar (Belgian comic)|lt=Jaguar|nl|Jaguar (strip)}}'', a fantasy series published by Casterman and translated in French and Spanish. Local success in Flanders came when he collaborates with comedian Urbanus on ''De Geverniste Vernepelingskes'', a series which parodies famous Belgians, including the two authors.<ref name=Weyer/>
Bosschaert illustrated album covers for musical artists like The Paranoiacs, Pitti Polak, Plastic Bertrand and Jan De Wilde.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://focus.knack.be/entertainment/muziek/kunst-op-de-hoes/article-normal-197271.html|title = Kunst op de hoes|date = 18 February 2011}}</ref>
==Bibliography== This bibliography contains only his comics, a list of his illustrations is not included.
{| class="wikitable" id="noveltable" border="1" !Series !Years !Volumes !Scenarist !Editor |- align="left" |''Icarus'' |1982 |1 |Jan Bosschaert |Albino |- |''Pest in't Paleis'' |1983 |1 |Guido Van Meir |Kritak |- |''Omni'' |1987 |1 |Plijnaar and Van Die |Oberon |- |''Walter & the King Kong Kooks'' |1989 |1 |Marc Legendre |Dedalus |- |''Sam'' |1990- |11 |Marc Legendre |Standaard Uitgeverij |- |''De rode draad'' |1996 |1 |Jan Bosschaert |Dedalus |- |''De Geverniste Vernepelingskes'' |1998-2010 |6 |Urbanus |Standaard Uitgeverij |- |''Jaguar'' |2001-2005 |4 |Jean Dufaux |Casterman |- |''Zapman'' |2001 |1 |Jan Bosschaert |Arcadia |- |''Getekend Damiaan'' |2017 |1 |Bart Maessen, Ruben Boon |Uitgeverij Van Halewyck |- |''Horizontaal'' |2018 |1 |Zidrou |Le Lombard |- |}
==Awards== * 1983: '''Provinciale Prijs voor de Schilderkunst''' (Provincial Award for Painting) of the province of Antwerp, Belgium * 1991: '''Bronzen Adhemar''', Turnhout, Belgium * 2003: '''Best Author (Dutch language)''' at the Prix Saint-Michel, Brussels, Belgium
==Notes== <references/>
==External links== {{Portal|Children's literature}} * [http://www.janbosschaert.be/ Homepage] (French and Dutch) * [http://lambiek.net/artists/b/bosschaert.htm Comiclopedia page] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061012141501/http://www.arcadiastrips.be/bosschaert.htm Biography at Arcadia, one of his publishers] (Dutch) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928031729/http://www.vlaamse-illustratoren.com/pages/i7.html A page about his illustrations of children's books] (Dutch)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosschaert, Jan}} Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:People from Borgerhout Category:Belgian comics artists Category:Belgian erotic artists Category:Belgian male painters Category:20th-century Belgian painters Category:21st-century Belgian painters Category:Belgian satirical comics artists Category:20th-century Belgian illustrators Category:21st-century Belgian illustrators Category:Belgian children's book illustrators Category:Belgian caricaturists Category:Belgian album-cover and concert-poster artists Category:Belgian magazine illustrators