AFP
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NOS News•today, 00:36
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French artist Jean-Jacques Sempé has died at the age of 89, his biographer reported to the AFP news agency. Sempé is considered one of the greatest illustrators in France. He was best known as an illustrator of the story series The little Nicolasabout a high school student in the 1960s.
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Sempé was born in 1932 in a suburb of Bordeaux, where he had a difficult childhood due to alcohol and money problems in his family and dropped out of school at a young age. In the early 1950s he moved to Paris, where he became friends with René Goscinny, writer of the series Asterix in Lucky Luke.
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The character Nicolas saw the light of day in 1954, first as a strip for which Goscinny wrote the screenplay. In 1959, the two of The little Nicolas create a story series. The books about the mischievous French schoolboy have sold more than 15 million copies in 45 countries. A film of the same name was also released in 2009.
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Sempé himself said in 2018 about the successful series that the stories about Nicolas were a way for him to relive the misery he had to endure during his childhood. “And making sure everything turned out okay.”
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Magazines
The Frenchman also made illustrations for well-known French magazines such as L’Express, Marie Claire and Paris Match. He also made about a hundred front pages for the prestigious American magazine The New Yorker.
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A French journalist, who further calls Sempé one of the fathers of Le Petit Nicolas, shares some of the covers on Twitter:
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Several French politicians and celebrities reflect on the death of Sempé, who would have turned 90 next week. Prime Minister Élizabeth Borne praises his work on Twitter. She also expresses her condolences to the artist’s relatives.
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The French fire brigade tweeted an illustration by Sempé, with the text: “Rest in peace, and bring us a little rain from up there”, referring to the current forest fires in France:
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