Death in Geneva –
Daniel Ceppi left to travel to the stars
The Geneva comic book author died on Monday. He leaves a dense body of work, where Geneva has often been highlighted through meticulously documented stories. Tribute.
Published today at 4:00 p.m.
Daniel Ceppi in December 2010, seated in a Carouge bistro.
OLIVIER VOGELSANG
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- Daniel Ceppi, Genevan designer, died at the age of 73.
- He is known for his series “Stéphane Clément” and “CH confidential”.
- Ceppi favored precision and realism in his comics.
- A tribute will be paid to him at the Papiers Gras gallery in Geneva.
For a long time, Daniel Ceppi kept one foot in Geneva, the better to place the other in Pondicherry. India, but also Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan are among the destinations where he happily dragged his gaiters, his camera and his pencils. Monday morning, the traveling cartoonist that he was set off for a definitive destination. Suffering from throat cancer – an illness with a rapid progression, detected this summer – the author, among others, of the series “Stéphane Clément, chronicles of a traveler” and “CH confidential” died at age 73. Having left to join the stars, he left behind a dense body of work, where Geneva has often been highlighted through meticulously documented stories.
The Mont-Blanc Bridge designed by Ceppi. “I like what I show to be precise,” commented the Geneva comic book author.
DR
Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, the airport, the Pont des Bergues, the banking district, the free ports, Céligny… in his albums, reality mixed harmoniously with fiction. From the diptych “CD – Diplomatic Corps” to his three-volume series “CH Confidential”, Ceppi had represented on numerous occasions fragments of a Geneva with little tourism. In his latest album to date, “Lady of Shalott” released in 2017, his lifelong hero, Stéphane Clément, was going to have a drink at L’ Elephant dans la Canette, on the corner of Avenue du Mail and from rue de l’École-de-Médecine.
When he wrote his stories, Ceppi paid as much attention to credibility as to visual appearance. “I like what I say to be precise, that’s my trademark. As I know Geneva by heart, I know where my characters can go. I’m not cheating with reality. If there is a prohibited direction on the route, I respect it,” he told us in 2020 during an exhibition on the Island.
Concern for veracity
Far from relying on his visual memory, the author born in Carouge made a point of going to the places he intended to draw, multiplying the photos digitally, 500 to 600 per story. Pushing the concern for veracity far, Ceppi tried to carry out his locations at the time of year during which the action of his comics took place. “I observe how people are dressed, whether there are people on the terraces or not, whether the weather is sunny or rainy. Small details that make all the difference.”
The action of “CH Confidential” passes through Free Ports.
ED. THE LOMBARD
Revealed to the general public in 1977 with the publication of the album “Le gêpier”, a fictional account of an amateur robbery in a Geneva jewelry store, Ceppi readily drew his intrigues from reading newspapers, from which he collected various articles which he reread regularly, until something clicked in his head.
Another essential source of inspiration: travel. Since he was 18-20, Ceppi had traveled the world. “There’s not a single album where I haven’t been on location. I do the same job as Tintin, except that I really do the reporting.” With him, fiction was always supported by reality. He let his stories mature in his head, sometimes for several years, before writing them in a notebook, novel-style, very quickly. “I have no problems with writing, but I struggle more with drawing,” he admitted, having completely reworked his first three albums when they were reissued in color.
Galleries and bistros
An inveterate backpacker, most often in the company of his wife Paûle to whom all our thoughts go, he liked to get back to his basics, he who lived for around forty years in Plainpalais, a neighborhood that he appreciated for its relaxed side. both good-natured and very lively: lots of galleries, lots of bistros. So many places where we could meet him regularly.
A page from “CH Confidential”, a cop in the Geneva administration.
ED. THE LOMBARD
It is also in a gallery, at Papiers Gras en l’Île, that a tribute drink will take place next week, in the company of all those who knew him, a prelude to a retrospective exhibition next year. next. On the comics side, Ceppi had slowed down, failing to sense any real interest from his publishers. But he had taken the time recently to sign an image for this meeting which he knew he would not attend. His last image.
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