in the kitchen of the one who made generations of children laugh

Tom-Tom and Nana are in mourning. Their illustrator, Bernadette Després, died at the age of 83. We met her in 2018 in her house in the Loiret, joyfully haunted by her little heroes, madeleine of generations of children.

HAS Givraines that day, it rained buckets. We shelter as best we can, when Spider-Man arrives under an umbrella, a little woman wrapped in a large vest and wearing a pair of flower and ladybug fangs. “You’re right on time!” » The one who brings us to this Loiret village in this harsh weather and who welcomes us with a sincere smile is Bernadette Després. Her name is not as well known as the first names of the characters she illustrated. And yet! His work is the madeleine of entire generations. If we tell you Gino Marto, Madame Poipoi, Monsieur Henri, Mélanie Lano, Rémi Lepoivre, Adrien, Yvonne, Marie-Lou…

All these little people are those who are bustling at La Bonne Fourchette, under the mischievous gaze of Tom-Tom and Nana, eponymous characters from the ten-page comic strip, presented every month at the end of the I like to read (Bayard Presse) since 1977. For forty-one years, Bernadette Després has tirelessly drawn the adventures of the Dubouchon family and without having lost a bit of pleasure.

“Forty-one years!” You realize! » The illustrious illustrator crosses her garden and takes us into her studio. At 77, the one who will be honored with an exhibition 2018 doesn't leave her drawing board, and everything, absolutely everything, about her breathes Tom-Tom and Nana. There is a complete collection of I like to read – we recognize our favorites, read, reread, and cherished for so long –, here figurines, there a letterbox puppet bearing the image of Tante Roberte, here unpublished compilations, under piles of drawn tracings, Tom- Tom and Nana to cut out…

It's overflowing with a joyous mess entirely dedicated to these characters with their sluggish and quivering features, who always have their knees in. Bernadette Després willingly takes a tour of her memories, showing us everything that comes her way, with joyful sincerity. She has the intonations of childhood in her voice and an almost permanent smile. And it seems we haven't seen anything yet. Across the street, Bernadette's second house – an annex for her many grandchildren – is like a museum: Tom-Tom and Nana from floor to ceiling, on almost every wall, even on one wrought iron balustrade. In the drawers of the large library, an impressive collection of children's books of all kinds, classified by theme in large drawers.

“There is no more story of Tom-Tom and Nana to illustrate since Jacqueline Cohen and Evelyne Reberg [les scénaristes, ndlr] stopped writing about it. So my relationship with them continues to exist through elementary schools. I love working with classes and having them write stories that I illustrate. To the last students, I sent an illustration with Tom-Tom, Nana and Rémi Lepoivre who play detectives. » Bernadette Després has a kindness and a crazy love for these characters that she created with Jacqueline Cohen for the very first issue of I like to read in 1977, at the request of Bayard Presse, and which she never wants to leave. The one who went to art school in Paris (“but not the Fine Arts! A mixed school, what a horror! My father never wanted it”) was inspired by what she had in front of her eyes: “Adrien Dubouchon has my father's nose, Nana has a round face like my daughter, it was all in me… And as I found that there was nothing more boring than doing the sets, I am went to draw a restaurant in Pithiviers, not far from here, to imagine A La Bonne Fourchette. I have was also very marked by Bécassine or Tintin, where there are very good comic characters. »

Sometimes, when I meet parents who are too strict, boom, I put the albums in their hands…

Bernadette Després immediately turned towards young people. She carries within herself all the good nature of her characters and breaks out into bursts of fierce laughter when it comes to remembering the adventures of her Tom-Tom and her Nana. “It’s nonsense, but it’s never mean. They cause trouble, bicker, but it's creative madness! We wanted to make the children laugh, and for that, it had to go overboard. Sometimes, when I meet parents who are too strict, boom, I put the albums in their hands, so that they learn to take life more cheerfully and not so seriously. »

We feel in each sentence the light life of Bernadette Després, when she interrupts to tell us that really (” Really ! “) she immediately believed in this comic strip and its gentle way of making fun of adults, and perhaps of the overly strict education she received. “Many parents thought that a comic book couldn't be serious, but if it's something that entertains the children, that they will read and reread… CP teachers told me that they had learned to read to their students with our stories. » She finds it wonderful, this jovial little woman, to have made generations of children read.

When we ask her if she has a favorite adventure, she widens her eyes and tells us: “I really like the ones with Aunt Roberte. What a character! Everyone thinks she's just strict, but she's full of fantasy. For me, Aunt Roberte is Castafiore. She's an artist, she annoys everyone, but it's great! » And she adds with a shy laugh: “Children asked me “Are you Aunt Roberte?” Oh I think she must be a bit of me yes…” That’s good, she’s always been our favorite.

This report was originally published in June 2018.