Gabrielle Vicent and Mario Ramos, two exceptional French-speaking Belgian artists, are they literaty « classics » ?

Abstract

Since 1830 Belgian literature has suffered from French cultural domination. Therefore it has long specialized in so-called minor genres including iconotexts, especially in the field of the picture book. Gabrielle Vincent and Mario Ramos are two Brusselian artists recognized both within Belgium and abroad, hailed by critics and educational institutions. They have been translated and republished numerous times and their popularity continues to grow. Yet their nonconformism has sometimes resulted in censorship and they do not fit into any single category. Is it therefore to speak of «literary classics»?
Keywords: picture book, instances of classicization, Belgium literature, Gabrielle Vincent, Mario Ramos.