La bande dessinée en son miroir. Images et usages de l’album dans la bande dessinée française

La présence de l’album dans l’album de bande dessinée franco-belge épouse la trajectoire culturelle de cet objet singulier : absent quand l’album n’est qu’un support marginal, limité aux clins d’oeil lorsque l’album commence à s’affirmer comme support éditorial principal, l’album dans l’album change de fonction au moment où la bande dessinée bascule de l’univers culturel des produits destinés à l’enfance au statut de neuvième art. Lieu d’affirmation des généalogies esthétiques, à travers mises en abyme de l’album et reprise de « cases mémorables », la mise en scène de l’album devient de plus en plus le support d’une démarche théorique en actes.This article focuses on the evolution of the publishing format of French comic books, and its links to the conquest of cultural legitimacy, through the evolution of its representations. The representation of “albums” in Franco-Belgian comic books follows the cultural evolution of the comic book market in France. When this new book market appeared, during the 1950s and 60s, the representation of comic books was generally limited to a glimpse or two. References expanded as the book eventually became the main publishing format for French comics. The shift from newspapers to books, changes in creative aspects and readership, as well as the redefinition of “high culture,” have changed the use of these representations. Once comics had attained the “ninth art” status, the representation of “albums” acted as a framework for explicit aesthetic debts or as ways to acknowledge influences, but also as a way to remind the readers of “memorable frames.” The latest designation of comics as avant-garde pushed their creators to use the representation of the album as support for new theoretical experiments