French illustrator Jean-Jaques Sempé, creator of ‘Little Nicholas’, died last night at the age of 89, five days after turning 90, his wife reported to the AFP news agency.
“Sempé was the drawing and the text. It was the smile and the poetry. Sometimes it’s the tears of laughter in the eyes, tonight it’s tears of emotion,” said the French Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne.
Sempé and Asterix author René Goscinny, who died in 1997, created the ‘Little Nicholas’ series together more than 50 years ago. The first of his adventures of the protagonist was published as a comic in a Belgian magazine in 1956 before the regional newspaper ‘Sud-Ouest’ in 1959. Since then his stories have sold millions of copies and have been translated into more than 30 Languages.
In 2009, the adventures of Nicolás were brought to the big screen for the first time. Sempé illustrated more than 40 books in which he analyzed the world in an affectionate and ironic style. The cartoonist targeted both the bourgeoisie and little men as well as the rich and powerful.
The cartoonist was born in Bordeaux on August 17, 1932 and published his first drawings in the early 1950s, initially under a pseudonym. A few years later he created cartoons and illustrations for magazines including Paris Match, Marie Claire and L’Express and authored more than 50 covers for The New Yorker. He also published numerous books as an author and illustrator.