André Chéret (27 June 1937 – 5 March 2020) was a French
comic book artist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...
. He is best known for creating ''
Rahan'' in 1969 alongside
Roger Lécureux
Roger Lécureux (also spelled Lecureux; 7 April 1925 – 31 December 1999) was a French comic book writer.
Biography
Lécureux was born in Paris. started off as an offset driver but was dismissed following disputes with his employer. He joined ...
.
Biography
Chéret was placed in the care of farmers in
Allier
Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Passionate about drawing since his earliest childhood, André Chéret discovered comics through reading illustrated books such as ''
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Creat ...
'' (in which are sometimes published strips signed by
Burne Hogarth
Burne Hogarth (born Spinoza Bernard Ginsburg, December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the ''Tarzan (comics), Tarzan'' newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artis ...
) and ''Fillette''. He also read the
jungle girl
A jungle girl (so-called, but usually adult woman) is an archetype or stock character, often used in popular fiction, of a female adventurer, superhero or even a damsel in distress living in a jungle or rainforest setting. A prehistoric depiction ...
''Durga Râni'' of
René Pellos
René Pellos (born René Marcel Pellarin, 22 January 1900, Lyon – 8 April 1998, Cannes) was a French artist, cartoonist and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées (BD) tradition. He also competed in the men's hockey tourna ...
with his sisters.
In 1952, Chéret found a job in a printing house before working in cinematic advertising. During his military service in 1958 in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, he published his first comic strip, ''Nicéphore Dupont''.
Chéret published his first comic book, '' Paulo et la furie du rodéo'', on 24 May 1959. He published a comic strip in ''
Cœurs Vaillants'' from 1959 to 1964. He also drew illustrations for the weekly magazine ''Radar'' and for the comic strip ''Rock l’invincible''. From May 1962 until 1969, Chéret drew illustrations for ''
Pif Gadget
''Pif Gadget'' (also simply known as ''Pif'') was a French comics magazine for children that ran from 1969 to 1993 and 2004 to 2009. Its readership peaked in the early 1970s.
Predecessors
''Pif'' has its origins in ''Le Jeune Patriote'', a yout ...
''.
Chéret continued his work for ''Cœurs Vaillaints'' until 1968 with the comic ''Karl''. In 1979, the first editions of the ''Michel Brazier'' comic were published in ''
Spirou'', but the rest of them remained unpublished until 2015.
Personal life
Chéret married Chantal Sauger in 1974, who illustrated many of his works. For over 30 years, the couple lived in
La Ferté-Saint-Cyr
La Ferté-Saint-Cyr () is a commune near Blois, in the Loir-et-Cher department in Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Geography
The commune is traversed by the Cosson river.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department
A commune ...
, and Chéret once served as a municipal councillor. He created the logo for the local primary school, which was renamed after ''Rahan'' in April 2017. After Chantal's death in 2017, he moved to
ÃŽle-de-France
The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
. André Chéret died on 5 March 2020 at the age of 82.
Awards
* Prix de dessin of the
Angoulême International Comics Festival
The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...
(1976)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chéret, André
1937 births
2020 deaths
French comics artists
20th-century French illustrators
20th-century French male artists