Your very first cartoon in the press…
Oh my God… I think it was under Charles the Bald. No, seriously, the first one was during the first time we lived together in France: I had to draw Mitterrand. At that time I was drawing like crazy – I was 17, 18 or 20, not quite yet – but it was the joy of drawing cohabitation: the president on the one hand, the minister on the other. It was published in Free channel – the inhabitants are called Penguins, which is still a shame for the designer!
The drawing that got the most reactions?
The strongest one was not published, it was pasted in. This is very Kabu, very Grand Duduce: a Somali-born friend Ismael asked me to portray the teacher as a “wanted” cowboy. And this idiot copied it and posted it all over the school! He was fired because he reported himself. This drawing, even unpublished, speaks for itself: the cartoonist is born in school, in high school, in college, there is an intelligent public, and then the authority of the teacher.
“I like to see people leafing through the newspaper in a cafe.”
A drawing that you never dared to publish?
When I’m working on Union or Western FranceI always offer a lot of sketches. The final decision rests with the editor, not me. Indeed, there is a design that was rejected, although it was very cool! It was Bruel from behind, and the women in front looked at waist level and said: “This is not his best shot.” “…
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Is there a drawing you regret or would you do differently today?
I don’t remember a single drawing that I deeply regretted. But sometimes we miss the point because news travels too fast, and that’s a risk. It’s even my obsession. The challenge is to find an idea that is sometimes less powerful, but that persists over time. We must not forget that the caricature in the press is part of the environment: it is inseparable from the duck. I still like to see people leafing through the newspaper in a cafe.
A drawing that you are particularly proud of…
There is a man who has traveled all over the world. This is a drawing about the life of teachers. He was talking about 1969. It showed a shy student in front of the teacher’s office, on a platform, with his parents watching. The teacher sternly showed the notebook and asked: “What kind of notes are these?” Today we had the same drawing, the same scene, but in reverse: a child in front of a desk, there is no platform anymore, and it is the parents who show the teacher the grade book and say: “What grades are these?” This is no longer a caricature, this is reality. When a caricature comes into contact with reality, it multiplies. I’m proud of it because there’s no personality or politics here – perhaps the influence of being the son of historians.
Drawing you dreamed of signing in press history?
When the news becomes a monument, then so do some of the drawings. For example, on the day of de Gaulle’s death, Jacques Fezant depicted a crying Marianne on a felled oak tree: this is a monument. Whether you are a Gaullist or not, this drawing speaks for itself. We don’t see the general himself, but he is here, embodied in this oak tree that has fallen on the ground.
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What’s the most touching message you’ve received from a reader?
One day a little couple comes to us with a box of cakes. I told myself that they were going to offer me shortbread and butter, something very simple. Actually no: it was people who cut out my drawings. Recently, a gentleman from Reims even came with his folder. I’m very proud of this because I don’t publish my drawings for myself: people cut them out of newspapers and make books out of them. That box of cakes filled with cut-out designs, that gentleman laminating them… it’s huge to me.
“The Kalashnikov bullet in Charlie was also the return of the man who made the wrong drawing…”
What’s the worst reader review you’ve received?
I haven’t had a worse review. I believe we must be humble when faced with this question because we can no longer answer it without thinking about those who died in the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The Kalashnikov bullet was also the return of a man who made a mistake in the drawing. I think of Wolinsky, Charbet, Honore, Tinous, Cabut: they probably did not think that one day their work would provoke such a reaction in the name of supposed blasphemy. So yes, criticism can happen, but as far as this event is concerned, everything is fine.
If you were banned from drawing news for a month, what would you draw?
This is a good question, because what really drives me to draw is the obligation to give, the adrenaline of choice: the whole editorial team is watching, it’s a bit like my daily Eurovision. When you’re unplugged, you don’t necessarily feel like drawing.
If you weren’t a cartoonist, would you be…?
I wanted to be an actor. But my extreme shyness prompted me to take up painting, which also suited my family culture. I was something of an anomaly in this family because I was the last to arrive. My parents gave birth to me at 42 years old, and they had already lost their eldest due to leukemia. Up there they must have said to themselves, “Send him, this guy. We don’t know where to send him, he’s going to try to make people smile.” Essentially, using your body, who you are, to make people laugh is the same ambition. I managed to make a career out of it, even at a late age.