LA LIGNE CLAIRE

LA LIGNE CLAIRE.

La ligne claire (Klare lijn en néerlandais) est un langage graphique issu de l'école belge Hergé et du « style Tintin » associé aux dessinateurs du journal du même nom, ainsi que ceux du concurrent Spirou, mais aussi, plus largement, un style narratif. Le terme ligne claire a été inventé en 1977 par le dessinateur néerlandais Joost Swarte, à l'occasion de l'exposition Tintin de Rotterdam.

Souvent utilisée hâtivement pour désigner un style graphique peu exubérant, l'expression ligne claire correspond cependant à des choix précis et rigoureux, que peu de dessinateurs sont parvenus à épouser sans y déroger aussitôt.

Il est inexact de fixer le début de la ligne claire à Hergé. Celui-ci s'est en effet inspiré d'œuvres antérieures. Il apparaît en fait que les caractéristiques de base de la ligne claire (trait simple, aplats de couleur) sont initialement liées aux contraintes posées par les techniques d'imprimerie des périodiques enfantins.

En réalité la méthode graphique retenue pour la « ligne claire » est celle déjà appliquée pour colorer les dessins des vitraux, en raison là aussi des limitations techniques imposant la séparation de chaque couleur.

Il s'agit, au départ, d'un dessin caractérisé - après la réalisation des crayonnés comparables à un brouillon - par un trait d'encre noire, de largeur égale, sur un fond blanc. Quasiment chaque élément se trouve décrit de façon isolée par son encerclement. Cette delimitation sera ensuite utilisée pour y recevoir une couleur unique. Chaque couleur se trouve donc ainsi séparée de sa voisine par un trait. Ce n'est que beaucoup plus tard qu'apparaitront des dégradés à l'intérieur d'une même surface fermée.

On peut dire que la ligne claire a ses racines dans les débuts de la bande dessinée, qui utilisait la technique de l'impression d'images par gravure et il n'est donc pas étonnant d'en retrouver des éléments chez Christophe (le Sapeur Camember en 1896) ou Pinchon (Bécassine). Mais c'est probablement l'influence d'Alain Saint-Ogan (Zig et Puce) qui se retrouve la plus nettement par la suite dans la conception hergéenne de la bande dessinée. En Amérique du Nord le trait de Winsor McCay ("Little Nemo", en 1905) est également dans la même veine offrant une grande lisibilité.

THE LAST FILM OF CARLOS and TERESA PANINI . 1951

Carrera Panamericana .The 20th of November 1951.

Carlos Panini was a wealthy Mexican businessman of Italian origin, from Mosio di Acquanegra sul Chiese in the province of Mantova in Lombardia region. He is credited with being the first pilot to fly a light plane around the world. In 1927 he had established Mexico's first scheduled airline, which he had sold shortly prior to the race as he was planning to retire.

He was a motorsport enthusiast and participated in numerous competitions.

Panini died when his car crashed during the 1951 Carrera Panamericana  on the second stage from Oaxaca to Puebla. Although the registered driver for the race was Carlos' daughter Teresa (Teresita), he was at the wheel of car, despite the fact that he did not have a valid license and was in ill health. The accident happened when 15 year old Bobby Unser was trying to overtake Panini who was travelling at a lower speed and blocked the American for a long stretch. After several attempts, Unser made his move but Panini tried too late to block him, resulting in the two cars bumping one another. Unser nearly went off a sheer cliff but was skilled enough to control his Jaguar, while Panini's Alfa Romeo went straight into a wall, killing the driver instantly. Unser did not stop for fear of being disqualified from the race as the rules explicitly forbade it. Later, Ricardo Ramirez of Mexico City abandoned the race to rush the Paninis to a hospital in Puebla. Teresa Panini survived the accident with minor injuries.

Press reaction to his death was strong in condemning the race as his was a part of a series of prominent deaths that year. At the time of his death newspapers gave his age as 54, but one states his age as 48.

The BOBBY UNSER Story at La PANAMERICANA 1951

 The BOBBY UNSER Story at La PANAMERICANA 1951.

 In the book titled "Winners Are Driven: A Champion's Guide to Success in Business & Life" Bobby Unser explains the story about the time he was racing a Jaguar in the second La Carrera Panamericana which ended in the death of Carlos Panini, a wealthy Italian-born founder of Mexico's first scheduled airline.


In 1951, my daddy and I entered the Mexican Road Race as a driving team. I drove and he was the co-driver and navigator of our Jaguar. The Carrera -Pan Americana-Mexican Road Race, the official name for the race......... We went off as the ninety-first car. Even though the race was challenging with turns, heat, and mountains, there were times we could run on a nice, open straight and go about 130 miles per hour.

On the second day, we were in seventeenth and coming up to pass the car of millionaire Carlos Panini and he daughter, Terresita. She was the registered driver. However, Carlos was behind the wheel instead and was in ill-health. He shouldn't have been driving. He didn't even have a driver's license. The rules were that the slower car was to allow the faster car to pass if the faster car honked it's horn. We were in the mountains, and I came up to Carlos and honked, but he wouldn't let me pass. This went on through about ten turns, with Carlos blocking me each time. We were probably doing about 90 miles per hour at this point. The next time I tried to pass him, he bumped my right-front fender, which almost pushed me off a sheer cliff to the left that was some 500 to 800 feet down. My left front tire went over the edge, but fortunately I regained control of the car. Carlos over-corrected his car to the right, and went straight into a solid rock wall. The car exploded on impact like an egg hitting a sidewalk. I didn't know it at the time, but Carlos was killed instantly.

One of the rules of the race was if you stopped to help anyone, you were automatically disqualified................. Seeing the explosive impact, I wanted to stop to help, but daddy told me to keep going. He knew the rules and told me that people were there to help. That was hard for me-- I slowed down to about 15 or 20 miles per hour. He insisted that I keep going, and grimly, I did.

We kept going, passing many more cars. Then we came to the town of Atlisco, about 17 miles from Puebla. I wrecked the car crashing into the town square. A Mexican Army General was there to watch the race. He told me we were in first place at the time, which I hadn't realized. We had passed 17 cars that day, but were out of the race. We fixed the car just good enough to drive the additional 97 miles to Mexico City. When we got to Mexico City, I saw the evening newspapers that already had the headlines about the Panini accident. I learned a new Mexican word: muerte (dead).

As much as I'm a highly driven person and want to win, I understand and accept reality. Some people don't understand reality, and that's what kills them in racing. It's also what kills a person's career in business. This is probably the most complex part of me for people to understand, yet it's so simple when you really think about it. I want to win very much, but I'm not willing to do stupid things just to win. I need to finish and stay alive, and race again tomorrow. You will be able to keep going on your journey when you accept the tough reality failure brings.