Rébecca Dautremer
Rébecca Dautremer was born in 1971 in Gap in the French Alps. She studied graphic design at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, during which time she was working as an illustrator for various publishers. She primarily works with gouache on watercolor paper. Taking inspiration from photography, she places a special focus on image composition and the effects of light and colour.
In 2003, she published her first children’s book, »L’Amoureux« (tr: The Lover), which explores the question of what it actually means to be in love. She has written several books in collaboration with her husband, the author Taï-Marc Le Thanh. The picture book »Princesses oubliées ou inconnues« (2004; Eng. »The Secret Lives of Princesses«, 2010), illustrated by Dautremer, with text by Philippe Lechermeier, highlights the peculiarities and secrets of unknown and forgotten royal daughters and has been translated into more than twenty languages. In »Une bible« (2014; tr: The Bible) – a renewed collaboration with Philippe Lechermeier that retells the Old and New Testaments – Dautremer constructs »fantastic worlds of images that, together with the texts, create a unique work of art« (Deutschlandfunk Kultur). »Les Riches Heures de Jacominus Gainsborough« (2018; tr: The Rich Hours of Jacominus Gainsborough) follows the life of a rabbit. He draws on his many memories starting from his birth as the runt of the litter to his later years as a proud family man. The richly detailed images with expressively drawn animal faces exude a tenderness that is echoed in the softly and poetically told story. The book has won several awards, including the 2019 Franco-German Youth Literature Prize. The jury praised the work, stating that »Under the fabulous brushwork of Rébecca Dautremer, one of the great French illustrators, the emotions of Jacominus become visible… With each turn of the page, we follow his paths, his dreams, his hopes, his fears, his love.« Dautremer’s »Midi pile« (2019; tr: High Noon) once again features the rabbit Jacominus Gainsborough. The story follows Sweety the rabbit as she goes on her way to meet him. Readers accompany her as she hops through the detailed die-cut pages. Starting from home, the journey continues across meadows, past market stalls, through a circus, and on to the harbour. »Die Zeit« has described the book as »a miniature theater between two book covers«.
Rébecca Dautremer lives in Paris.
L’Amoureux
Gautier-Languereau
Paris, 2003
Die Bibel
[Text: Philippe Lechermeier]
Coppenrath
Münster, 2014
[Ü: Rosemarie Griebel-Kruip u. Sarah Pasqay]
Das Stundenbuch des Jacominus Gainsborough
Insel
Berlin, 2019
[Ü: Eva Moldenhauer]
Punkt 12
Insel
Berlin, 2020
[Ü: Andrea Spingler]
Des souris et des hommes
[Text: John Steinbeck]
Tishina
Paris, 2020
