Cartoonist Sempé, famous for New Yorker covers, dies at 89

the french cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé who gained international fame with a series of more than 100 illustrations for the covers of The New Yorker, has died at the age of 89.

His illustrations often showed small figures in large urban landscapes, drawn in delicate lines and with smooth social commentary on modern life.

“Tender irony, the delicacy of intelligence, jazz: we will not forget Sempé. We will miss his worldview and his pencil very much,” wrote the French president, Emmanuel Macron on twitter.

Le jazz, la tendre ironie, la délicatesse de l’intelligence. Du Petit Nicolas, in passing by Monsieur Lambert jusqu’aux promeneurs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé awaits l’élégance of toujours rester léger sans que rien ne lui échappe. pic.twitter.com/KOQPPIsn7A

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 11, 2022

One of France’s most famous visual artists, Sempé drew scenes of everyday life in elaborate detail, often from an elevated or distant perspective, and in pastel colors.

Born on August 17, 1932 in a village near Bordeaux, Sempé did not finish high school, went from job to job and stayed briefly in the Army before moving to Paris in the 1950s and starting to earn a living from his drawings. .

He had his first success in the late 1950s with the series “Little Nicholas” of children’s books about a student, with the writer of asterix , Rene Goscinny .

His international success came in the late 1970s, when he began designing covers for The New Yorker, illustrating city life from an outside observer, his characters often lost in large crowds or against large vistas.

Most of his drawings had little or no dialogue, but short captions often subtly hinted at the characters’ concerns or hopes.