comics
Inventor of “little Nick” – France mourns Sempé
The French illustrator and caricaturist Jean-Jacques Sempé would have been 90 years old on August 17, 2022. photo
© Stephane De Sakutin/AFP/dpa
Jean-Jacques Sempé became world famous with the stories of “little Nick”. Now the draftsman and cartoonist died shortly before his 90th birthday.
France mourns the loss of a comic artist who captivated generations: Jean-Jacques Sempé, the inventor of the famous children’s stories about “little Nick”, is dead. The Frenchman died at the age of 89 just a few days before his 90th birthday. Birthday, as reported by the AFP news agency on Thursday evening with reference to Sempé’s wife.
France’s Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne paid tribute to the draftsman. “Sempé, that was the drawing, that was the text, it was the smile and the poetry, sometimes he had tears in his eyes from laughing, tonight it’s tears of emotion,” wrote Borne on Twitter. Numerous other politicians also reacted emotionally to Sempé’s death.
The association of the French fire brigade, which is currently fighting devastating forest fires in various parts of the country, combined this with a specific request to Sempé. “Rest in peace and send us the rain from up there…” tweeted the fire brigade association on Thursday evening with a wink.
Collaboration with Asterix author
The series about “little Nick”, originally “Le Petit Nicolas”, was created more than 50 years ago in collaboration between Sempé and René Goscinny, the author of the Asterix books who died in 1977. Jean-Jacques Sempé left numerous albums and picture stories to posterity.
The first adventures of “little Nick” were published in comic form in a Belgian magazine in 1956 before being reprinted in the regional newspaper “Sud-Ouest” in 1959. Since then, the bright boy’s stories have sold millions and been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2009, the rascal pranks came to the screen for the first time.
The draftsman and cartoonist left over 40 illustrated books to posterity, in which he analyzes the world with lovingly ironic strokes. In doing so, he targeted the charm of the bourgeoisie, as well as the little man and the rich and famous.
Sempé was born on August 17, 1932 near Bordeaux. He published his first drawings as early as 1950, initially under a pseudonym. A few years later he designed cartoons for magazines such as “Paris Match”, “Marie Claire”, “L’Express” and the renowned satirical magazine “The New Yorker”, for which he drew more than 50 covers. In addition to Patrick Süskind’s worldwide hits “Der kleine Nick” and “The Story of Herr Sommer”, he has published numerous albums as an author and illustrator.
Tweet AFP Tweet Borne