Sempé co-created much-loved French children’s books that have sold more than 15m copies worldwide
Sempé died peacefully a few days before his 90th birthday, surrounded by his wife and friends, according to Marc Lecarpentier, his biographer and friend. Lecarpentier has in his writings about the cartoonist described Sempé as “an amused and disconcerted observer of the world around him” who examined the human soul by playing on the “disproportion of situations and roles” of his characters or of their thoughts and comments.
He lived in an abusive foster home before his mother took him back, only to subject him to further violence. He wanted to be a jazz pianist and dropped out of school at 14 before lying about his age to join the army. Army life did not agree with him, however, and he beganPhotograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
It was only in 1978 when he was hired by the New Yorker that he found sustainable success. “I was almost 50 and for the first time in my life, I existed! I had finally found my family,” he said.He was seen in France as revealing amusing and sometimes caustic truths about the world – making people smile without resorting to cruelty or mockery.
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