His Life
The French draftsman and caricaturist Jean-Jacques Sempé was born on the 17th of
August 1932 in Bordeaux. At school his talent for drawing was already evident. After
military service Sempé moved to Paris where he had a variety of jobs he didn't
like before starting work as a draftsman in 1950. He has drawn for
"Paris Match" ,
"Punch", "Marie Claire" and "L'Express". With a little help from a friend he published
his first volume of work in 1960. Since then nearly every year he has published a new
volume of work. His work can also be seen in the
Whilhelm Busch museum in
Hanover (Germany) and has today reached international status.
Ever since he has had a secure financial base Sempé has drawn only for the
New Yorker.
There he has a free hand in his choice of subject material and this is mostly
the best choice for an artist. His Chanson of the human being, the person in his
imperfection and the rich people with their crazy hobbies are some themes for his
fantastic Cartoons. His love of detail is unique.
A lot of people ask themselves how this man can find so many good ideas for his
cartoons. Once during an interview he said: "The basic of all humour is to be alone
in this world". He has received numerous awards, for example in 1979 the "Grand Prix
National des Arts et des Lettres" and in 1987 the "Grand Prix de Littérature de
la Ville de Bordeaux". He is and will be the only artist for me, because nobody else
can draw such fantastically simple cartoons that mean so much. Unfortunately not so
much information's are known about him but as I suppose two books have their names of
his son Nicolas and his daughter Cathérine. Maybe we will be more informed about
him, after his life here. But I hope he will draw a lot of books for future.
