August 17, 1932

Jean-Jacques Sempe (August 17, 1932) is a French cartoonist. The beauty and joy in his drawings and paintings however, puts him in a unique class.

A recent interview (2006, on the release of English translations of his books) relates:

Most cartoonists like to zoom in on their idea: to focus on the joke for fear of losing it. Sempé loves detail and confusion. He often (not always) sets his characters in a large, jumbled world, whose mass of detail amplifies the punch line or leads you away in chaotically different directions.

From his apartment in Montparnasse, there is a breath-stopping view over the whole of central Paris, from Saint Sulpice and Notre Dame north to the hill of Montmartre.

Sempé, a youthful 74, sits in grey flannels, blue blazer and bright blue shirt, looking more like a retired banker than a still very active cartoonist - one who, to many people, is among the finest living cartoonists in the world.

Stating the obvious, I say: "You have a very Sempé view."

"Oh, do you really think so?" he replies, grinning vaguely and looking out of the window. "I never thought about that. I was kicked out of my last apartment. I was looking for ages. And this is what I found. It's just a coincidence."

Such off-the-cuff humility is what you might expect from such a genius. You have seen his magazine covers. They may well have a cat. Here is a link to his New Yorker covers.

And here, as we drift from the topic, is the current New Yorker cartoon caption  contest subject. You have to send in your ideas TODAY, to be a winner.  Obviously this is NOT a Sempe cover, as you will have noticed if you clicked the penultimate link.