Tuesday, November 11, 2008

French Gag Cartoons Circa 1956

Above: How do you sell cartoons in Europe with all of those language differences? You draw wordless cartoons! Guy Bara shows us, in 5 panels, a whole story wherein the balance of power is shifted.

Here are some cartoons from BEST CARTOONS FROM ABROAD 1956, edited by Lawrence Lariar and Ben Roth and copyright the same year.


And I read PLAYBOY for the cartoons!



Hervé gives us an artist cartoon. There used to be all sorts of artist cartoons; artists painting models, artists wearing berets, artists chasing models, etc.


Above: Hervé once more, with a very odd tattoo. There are, however, 52 years later, still relationships like this.

Above: Hervé could sell this one today.



Above: Leon with a topical cartoon regarding obesity! I like the fellow's grin. Just makes it for me. That's a blissful expression.



Above (and the rest of these below): the one and only Sempé, who is still producing work for The New Yorker. I like to think that the bearded fellow, casually sketching the impatient crowd outside, is Sempé himself.
"Yes, this is really Treasure Island. It is I who made the plan. I AM the treasure."

This woman's speech is funny -- and it's a rare Sempé cartoon where we have even one line of dialog, much less three.


Above and below: a couple of wordless multi-panel playlets. Sempé is one of my all-time favorites.

3 comments:

PaMdora said...

These are great! I remember digging out old cartoon books and magazines at my grandma and dad's house -- it think that stuff really influenced me when I was a kid. Thanks for posting.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the scans, Mike. The one with the exotic dancers, if you're interested to know and don't already, is by Georges Pichard, who would go on to produce the "Paulette" comic story, with script from Wolinski, for the French comics monthly "Charlie" in the Seventies. That strip contained ladies very much in the style evident here, only more so. You've given me the opportunity to see what I think is the earliest example i've seen of his work, and a very telling one at that.

Barry Cauchon said...

Hi Michael: I am doing research on the French gag cartoonist LaPlace. I have very little to go on about the man, his history or biography.
I just remember seeing his work in the Quebec newspaper LePress in 1972 and spent the next few years collecting his work whenever I came across one. But I never knew anything about the man. Do you know if there is a biography on him and if a book was ever published his collected works?
Many thanks.
Barry