Jean-Claude Floc'h is an comic artist and illustrator who can be placed among the masters of the Clear Line, like Hergé and Joost Swarte. The younger brother of comic artist Jean-Louis Floch, Floc'h studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris and started his career making press and book illustrations. He created his first comic story, 'Le Conservateur', together with Rodolphe and it was published in Imagine in 1975. He was present in Pilote from 1977, where he teamed up with scriptwriter François Rivière to create 'Le Rendez-vous de Sevenoaks'. It was the first story to feature the character of the British writers Sir Francis Albany and Olivia Sturgess.
The series, that would become known as 'Albany & Sturgess', was influenced by Hitchcock and Agatha Christie for the storytelling, and by E.P. Jacobs for the graphics. The first story was followed by ' Le Dossier Harding' (1979) and 'A la recherche de Sir Malcolm' (1985), that formed the first cycle 'La Trilogie Anglaise'. In 1992, Floc'h and Rivière declared their character dead in 'A propos de sir Francis par O. Sturgess', but in 2006 a book called 'Les Chroniques d'Olivier Alban' starring one of Albany's characters was published. In 2005, the first book of a new cycle was published, called 'Olivia Sturgess' 1914-2004 (2005).
Floc'h and Rivière have additionally created the independent story 'Blitz' for Le Matin de Paris in 1981. Albin Michel published it in book format, as well as the sequels 'Underground' (1996) and 'Black-out' (2009). The duo reunited once again in 2013 for 'Villa mauresque', a graphic novel biography of the writer Somerset Maugham, published by La Table Ronde.
Floc'h has also worked extensively with Jean-Luc Fromental since the mid-1980s on 'Jamais Deux sans Trois' in L'Écho des Savanes and on the illustrated books 'Ma vie' (1985), 'High Life' (1986) and 'Var, le Département dont vous êtes le Heros' (1988). Other illustration books by Floc'h include 'Life' (1985), 'Ma vie 2' (1997), 'Je me souviens' (1987), 'Un homme dans la foule' (1985), 'Exposition' (1998), 'Journal d'un New Yorkais' (with Michel Jourde, 1994), 'Une vie de rêve' (2007), 'Male Britannia' (2009), 'London Euphoria' (2010), 'Regency Utopia' (2010) and 'Une vie exemplaire' (2011).
Jean-Claude Floc'h has also worked on film productions by Alain Resnais, Woody Allen and Mike Leigh, and has published his drawings in internationally renown magazines such as The New Yorker, Le Monde, Monsieur, Lire and World of Interiors. A selection of his illustration work was published in the books 'Un homme dans la foule' (1985), 'Floc'h illustrateur' (2000) and 'loc'h illustrateur 2' (2005).
He was one of several artists to make a graphic contribution to ‘Pepperland’ (1980), a collective comic book tribute to the store Pepperland, to celebrate its 10th anniversary at the time.
