COULISSES

"When I was a kid, heckling was my only distraction". Sempé was born on 17 August 1932 in Bordeaux. Expelled from school for indiscipline, he started working: handyman for a wine broker, holiday camp instructor, office boy... At the age of 18, he worked in newsrooms and sold his first drawing to Sud-Ouest in 1951. His meeting with Goscinny coincided with the beginning of his dazzling career as a "press cartoonist".

Some forty albums of drawings, since "Rien n'est simple" in 1962, marvelously translate his tenderly ironic vision of our shortcomings, masterpieces of humour. Sempé is one of the few French cartoonists to illustrate the covers of the very prestigious The New Yorker, and makes thousands of readers smile in Paris Match.

In 1992, Martine Gossieaux opened a gallery dedicated to her passion since childhood: timeless and elegant humourous drawings. Every year she exhibits original drawings by Sempé at 56 rue de l'Université in Paris and publishes engravings, original prints and books. She regularly organizes large-scale exhibitions devoted to him throughout the world, in museums and cultural venues. In 2018, the Fonds de Dotation Jean-Jacques Sempé was created by the artist to disseminate and promote his work.

The Sempé's Collection published by Image Republic in collaboration with the Martine Gossieaux Gallery, is exclusive, the drawings are available in 30x40 cm and 40x50 cm mounted prints, puzzles, notebooks and postcards.

Photo © Jean-Paul Guilloteau / EXPRESS-REA