JIHEL

We approached towards the end of the 70s, without more, a formal meeting between artists. We sympathized during the festival of graphics of Enghien in the 80s, our close collaboration from that time, it had to happen, the Mayan calendar predicted it.

First of all we gauged ourselves, deciphered, analyzed, to finally realize that while being different, we were in fact similar.

Him, JIHEL, in his bubble of nonviolent individualist anarchist, journalist of the written word, reporter and satirical press cartoonist, refusing for I do not always know what principle, all exhibitions or retrospectives in France, exporting to exhibitions international, Berlin, Sidney, Turin, Rome, Tokyo and most often in New York where he will settle on several occasions. Enlightened art lover, collector of raw art and primitive art, passionate about history, not the great one, no, rather the one that people forget, with its cohort of intrigues ... an unparalleled fascination for the Revolution and the Empire with its retinue of fabulous and extravagant characters, yet only one will come back and come back over its boards, like a doubt about its own initiatory journey, its name is TALLEYRAND, the name is dropped, and here it is. "CEMENT" which has united our work together over decades.

Me, in my Niçoise bubble of the Jacques MEDECIN era, working in the movement of the Nice school while refusing to join officially, preferring first to build my own itinerary away from gallery owners.

Eventually over the years that have passed we have become Jihel and I, the GOSCINNY and UDERZO of the lame devil, the Freemason.

LENZI, painter from the NICE school.

JIHEL: CONTEMPORARY MASTER OF CARICATURE

The artist Jihel is without doubt the most important practitioner of the art of caricature to be found today in France, indeed perhaps in the entire world. He is certainly the inheritor of a longstanding French tradition of caricature art, most notably practiced in the past by such masters of the form as Rostro and Orens.

Like them, he often constructs his images as montages of strange and at first seemingly incongruous elements drawn from a great variety of sources, human, animal, and inanimate.

Taken together, a narrative of sort often emerges, though its precise interpretation may vary significantly from viewer to viewer. Most often at the heart of these visual narratives is some sort of satiric commentary - upon history, upon contemporary events and popular culture, upon individuals, or upon life in general. Over the years, Jihel's creations have evolved from clusters of satiric commentaries focusing upon highly specific historic events - for example, the Armenian genocide - to somewhat more generalized depictions of the absurdity of the human condition, and with it has come in most cases a softening of tone, a movement away from harsh condemnation and towards a gentler, at times almost playful, assessment of human character.

At the same time, the artist has moved from a predominance of black and white depictions in his earlier work to an ever more lavish use of brilliant and dynamic primary colors. Although the disparate elements in his compositions may come from practically anywhere, certain visual motifs and representations are frequently repeated in seemingly endless recombination - Kaiser Wilhelm II, chamber pots, Talleyrand, Jacques Médecin (the disgraced mayor of Nice), animals of every sort from rats to rhinos, Beethoven, Masonic symbols, Marie Antoinette, the Mona Lisa, Napoleon, the comics characters known as Les Pieds Nickelés, Robespierre, and numerous others.

Each individual piece represents a unique and vivid satiric perspective upon human life and events: taken together, the large body of work created by this gifted artist constitutes the most important contribution to this genre to emerge in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It comes therefore as no surprise whatsoever that Jihel's satiric masterpieces are highly prized and sought after by collectors, the present author being most enthusiastically among their number.

Richard Meyer

Salem, Oregon

USA

JIHEL: THE CONTEMPORARY MASTER OF CARICATURE

The artist Jihel is undoubtedly, among all the followers of the art of caricature, the most important that exists today in France, and perhaps even in the whole world. He certainly inherited a long French tradition of the art of caricature, practiced in the past in particular by masters in the field such as Rostro and Orens.

Like them, he often constructs his images as montages of strange and at first sight incongruous elements drawn from various human, animal and inanimate sources.

Once associated, a sort of story often emerges, which can however be interpreted very differently from one person to another. These visual narratives are most often centered on some kind of satirical commentary on history, on contemporary events and popular culture, on people or on life in general.

Over the years, Jihel's creations have evolved: sets of satirical commentaries focused on very specific historical events, such as the Armenian Genocide, have become somewhat more generalized representations of the absurdity of the human condition, in which the your tone has often softened, moving away from harsh condemnation to move towards a lighter, sometimes almost cheerful, appreciation of human character. At the same time, the artist has moved away from the black and white representations that dominated his early works to more generously use vibrant and dynamic primary colors. Although the heterogeneous elements of his compositions can have virtually any origin, certain visual motifs and representations are frequently repeated in new combinations that seem endless - Kaiser Wilhelm II, chamber pots, Talleyrand, Jacques Médecin (former mayor de Nice dishonored), animals of all kinds, from rats to rhinos, Beethoven, Masonic symbols, Marie-Antoinette, Mona Lisa, Napoleon, comic book characters called Les Pieds Nickelés, Robespierre, and many more.

Each work represents a vivid and unique satire of human life and events; the ensemble of works created by this talented artist will have been the most important contribution to the genre to emerge at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. It is therefore absolutely no surprise that Jihel's satirical masterpieces are so prized and sought after by collectors, and especially by the author of this article, who is one of them.

Richard Meyer

Salem, Oregon

USA

AN INTERVIEW OF JIHEL BY SAM FLORES

It was to publish a paper on political activism through satirical drawing and caricature that I was brought to meet the artist Jacques Camille LARDIE dit Jihel.

I wanted an artist sincere in his convictions, an artist refused almost everywhere and who ultimately self-publishes to make himself heard and exist. As I went around the editorial offices, a name kept ringing inexorably in my ears "LARDIE"

Go for LARDIE, my choice was made.

The longest was to meet him, it was hard, very hard, always unreachable, a female voice answered me tirelessly on the phone "Leave your details, he will call you back" months have passed and still nothing, for me it was a given, I said to myself, he's my man, I had found an artist who does not run after his notoriety. So I made the headquarters of his studio in Paris and while he was going out to go to a bookstore, I introduced myself by following in his footsteps, I managed to sketch my idea for an interview. I had learned my lesson well from one of his close friends Mill Reinberg whom I had contacted before to get to him, I had to slip into the Talleyrand or Louise Michel conversation and finally talk to him about cats and animal protection. . I had been warned that he was difficult at first and that he did not like wasting his time, but I had some keys there. We agreed on the principle of a recorded conversation without taboos or exclusions but with a mixture of genres and without established order. All the same, he reserved the right to silence, which he did little after all. Often he even went beyond the question. Everything went very well overall and I was able to have my award-winning interview, I loved spending time with this artist, he marked me deeply for a long time.

SAM FLORES

Student in journalism, PARIS.

Interview conducted in May 1986.

SF: If you had to introduce yourself what would you say?

JIHEL: I don't think I am presentable in the sense that you mean it, so not much, except that I must have missed a lot of lives elsewhere, here and now and that really bothers me, it would take a second life to get rid of the first.

SF: It's not really an answer, it starts badly

JIHEL: It's mine, I always have the impression that there is something more beautiful elsewhere.

SF: But still?

JIHEL: Space and time push me to change, always, in my creation I need to feel like a stranger to the place I am in, only then do I become a conveyor of images, not always mine. elsewhere, like a time thief who will always miss an hour to finish his sentence. <

SF: So I'm going to be content with that even if I'm unsatisfied, so are you obsessed with death?

JIHEL: I wasn't really talking about death but yes and no, it is at the heart of life, of my life, of my artistic journey, so it helps me to live, it accompanies me, for a while, until 'when...

SF: Back to drawing, why did you choose satirical drawing and politics?

JIHEL: Politics imposed itself on me when I was very young, drawing also by the way, so I mixed the two and then I became a political or press cartoonist as they say, then a cartoonist, it was a door open to excess and I am excessive in everything, it is a strength but also a weakness.

SF: How is that a weakness?

JIHEL: I have always created on adrenaline rush in the face of the injustices of life and refused to self-censor an hour or a day later, the first version was for me the fairest so the good one, rarely appreciated by the applicant, refused, it was therefore self-published in fanzines or postcards within my own publishing house, often with a lawsuit at stake.

SF: Have you had a lot of court cases?

JIHEL: Dozens, there are less risks with Talleyrand and Fouché than with Pasqua or Médecin.

LAUGH.

SF: They say you have a huge talent and we are slow to do it justice

JIHEL: I don't know if I have talent but ON is an idiot, you can tell him when you meet him, I'm not looking for any recognition, I work in an almost neurotic way, a form of emotional intensity that hurts but which gives me the opportunity to implement what I can do without worrying about pleasing and even less flattering, very little for me medals, retrospectives and other nonsense.

SF: Neurotic, does that mean that you create in a daze?

JIHEL: A bit, I have this propensity to draw deep inside me this mask from the history of another, the one I'm going to perform, an execution is fraught with consequences you know, and then I always try building momentum in the anguish of a late night, it gives me obvious comfort without constantly questioning myself.

SF: You say you drew very young, how old?

JIHEL: About ten years, certainly less, I have very precise memories of a history book on the French Revolution of 1789 on which I copied engravings and I had fun putting characters like Napoleon in a situation. , Talleyrand, Robespierre, Danton etc, once drawn, I cut them out to glue them on a strong cardboard, they were my tin soldiers, they allowed me to revisit history in my own way and I can say that the hundred days or my Congress of Vienna would make any historian worthy of the name turn pale. I still have this book in my library. I only prolonged my childhood by becoming a designer.

SF: Yet you did not have this training as a press cartoonist when you left the Fine Arts?

JIHEL: Drawing is drawing, when you have the basics and imagination everything becomes possible, hold a slogan diverted from 68, my father wanted me to be an architect, my mother a fashion designer, I finished a decorator on porcelain in Limoges, not really intoxicating but hey I was in the place, had to find the opportunity to leave, it happened very quickly.

SF: In your work, is there also this passion for the history of France?

JIHEL: Work is a very big word for the little scribbler that I am, nevertheless it is true that the history of France has lived in me and this since a very young age, I have just told you about it, and without denying my political drawings, historical creations are for me a breath of fresh air and a major enrichment even if I have very often flirted with the license, and this one is not poetic, it is artistic. These creations allowed me to take a step back on existence and to forge links with characters who had no chance of meeting in real life, I rested with them.

SF: You're talking about uchronie I guess, how did you get this idea?

JIHEL: Very simply, it seemed obvious to me to make talk about the disappeared personalities to indicate to the politicians of the present time the way to follow, I started in my current affairs drawings to put them in a cloud, then on an equal footing , it worked well in my head with Jaurès, Talleyrand and Louise Michel, so I widened my field of investigation to many others, Guillaume II, Cléo de Mérode, etc ... Then I deleted the news from some series.

SF: Do you have the impression that you are at the wrong time?

JIHEL: I am well in my time and these uchronist drawings are a drop of water in the sea of my creations on day-to-day news, how many on Giscard, on Mitterrand, thousands for hundreds on Cléo.

SF: Of which note, now a few point-blank questions to relax like Proust's questionnaire. Beatles or Rolling Stones

JIHEL: Stones

SF: Your favorite French singer?

JIHEL: Léo Ferré

SF: Did you know Ferré?

JIHEL: I worked with him, for him.

SF: Your favorite actress?

JIHEL: Sandrine Bonnaire

SF: Actor?

JIHEL: Michel Simon

SF: Director?

JIHEL: Pialat

SF: Your favorite book?

JIHEL: What talking means about Bourdieu

SF: One philosopher, just one?

JIHEL: Ouch, the trap is super reductive, go Gaston Bachelard.

SF: A painter?

JIHEL: Magritte

SF: Your favorite animal?

JIHEL: The cat

SF: Your favorite color?

JIHEL: At the cat? LAUGH, I'm kidding citizen, obviously black.

SF: About this we say anarchist, what is it for you?

JIHEL: Neither god nor master, I think it's summed up well.

SF: Are you not a believer?

JIHEL: I repeat, neither god nor master

SF: Your favorite French singer?

JIHEL: Catherine Ribeiro

SF: About her in the spring of 68, Catherine Ribeiro tried to kill herself, you were there, we said ...

JIHEL: A lot has been said about everything and nothing

SF: Yet these many drawings on the singer testify ...

JIHEL: with deep respect for his militant and libertarian approach, full stop.

SF: You don't want to tell us more?

JIHEL: No comment, if all the same .... Don't talk about poetry while crushing wild flowers.

SF: Is it a code?

JIHEL: If she reads this, she will understand.

SF: But is it a Barbara song?

JIHEL: The interpretation by Catherine is subliminal, listen to it, frankly it is breathtaking.

SF: You did more drawings on her than on Ferré, doesn't that seem surprising to you?

JIHEL: No, for the man that I am, a muse was needed, we are almost twenty years after May 68 and you can notice that it is a long time since I did not do anything on her.

SF: I read somewhere that Patricia Carli ....

JIHEL: Don't read everything that is written

SF: It was just to highlight the antipodes between these two singers.

SF: Big white, a bad steel blue gaze tells me not to insist.

SF: Your favorite song?

JIHEL: Memory and the sea

SF: Performed by ...

JIHEL: It's despicable, good Catherine Ribeiro, but of course Léo Ferré.

SF: Our deal in this type of questionnaire was only one answer, so an exception. Let’s come to Talleyrand, why did this quite harmless character haunt you so much?

JIHEL: Harmless you are joking I hope, passionate about the French Revolution and the Empire, this man is the pivot of all intrigues, he could only unleash my imagination.

SF: There have been bad rumors about you, drugs, squatting, porn, etc ...

JIHEL: Difficult to concentrate with you but hey I agreed to play. Rumors are made to run, do not count on me to accompany them, I let it be said, it's part of the job, they try to destabilize me, I do not enter this game there.

SF: You mean nothing is true?

JIHEL: I leave you to your assessments and then it occupies the barge.

SF: How do you determine your artistic career?

JIHEL: I live it, I'm not looking for competition, the only anxiety is a blank page, if, if it exists, like an anxiety of not having anything more to say, it's terrifying, it can last for hours and then the evening coming, preamble to night, everything comes back, it rushes, madness in its raw state.

SF: What is your engine on the current affairs drawing?

JIHEL: In politics there is in the fall, its movement, always something that is tragedy, that's where I intervene.

SF: You have lived in many cities, countries, why this instability?

JIHEL: My answer could be what I answered your first questions, I kept this taste of the established after 68.

SF: Why are cities like Asnières or Vésinet so different?

JIHEL: Why not, fed up with Paris, the calm, the change, all that and especially the headlong rush.

SF: You who are a collector with an enormous library and all this material to work with, it is not difficult these incessant moves?

JIHEL: I always have a definitive anchor point with thousands of memories and I turn around, question of organization. For work, paper, pencils, and finding a good printer nearby, that's all I need.

SF: Thousands of memories, what are they concretely?

JIHEL: Each book is a memory, it is not a parade library, each book is read and reread.

SF: Siné, Pratt, Bedos, Higelin etc ... What are your links?

JIHEL: Distressed but real.

SF: Your answers are very often evasive, laconic, why?

JIHEL: We stop when you want.

SF: Your favorite radio station?

JIHEL: France culture

SF: Your daily newspaper?

JIHEL: Libé

SF: Your passion?

JIHEL: A passion, it's reductive, what an idea, but I have plenty

SF: Yes, which ones then?

JIHEL: My companion, books, cold water, night, rain, naturism, animals, it's endless.

SF: Your partner, how does she experience your work?

JIHEL: Well, she gets involved, she knows me by heart, she knows my silences, my anger and the dawn which still takes itself for the night, it is a saint.

SF: If we had to draw a conclusion from this interview, what would you say?

JIHEL: That it was not really an interview but an interrogation, but hey you are sympathetic to me, I played the game even a little more I think and lied very little, on the other hand I am surprised at the few questions on the philosophy and my deep daily commitments will be for another time, greetings and fraternity to you.

The red period of JIHEL

By consulting this site which is moreover very well organized, I am stunned by the artistic production of this artist who is often said to be eclectic, for my part I do not think he really is because more than 98% of his production is historical or political, I put forward this figure on purpose because I consulted several generalist collections of this designer, the most complete of which are in Switzerland, Italy, the United States and the Netherlands. I also consulted the collections of the Jaurès museum.

Of course a few pin-ups, eroticism, a bit of pornography, a few tributes to artists who are admired or dead friends and some official maps or pirates of exhibitions punctuate the course of JIHEL which ultimately does not displease me beyond measure giving even more meaning to his satirical messages. And then tell me an artist who has not deviated his pencil, his brush?

In the collections that I have consulted and after interviews with the said collectors, some points remain obscure like a bizarre impression of two trajectories, one with black and white drawings grouping together very many series that it would be tedious to list including the more famous is all the same "Cement of history" which would gather 1500 numbers, and another approach with colorful drawings that specialists call "The red period" without really giving a meaning to this term except this red background that keeps coming back. I think that we must not take into account the bitter comments of a club president who advanced in a headline that this red period was ultimately only the author's communist period, this statement does not stand up to study depth of the artist's approach. Some drawings are bordering on anti-communism, so let seek answers wander at all costs.

The black and white drawings of which I was a fervent fan and this since the 70s have covered roughly four decades, being limited to certain themes I have largely incomplete series, I did not know the smoky drawings for the most part history of the red period, I passed by without knowing it, surprising and confusing. These often silkscreened cards that we have seen appearing for ten years allow me to complete my thematic collections of this artist. Fabien ZELLER in one of his books of interviews with JIHEL gives a clue to my questions by saying that the latter drew a lot but did not want to sell and therefore kept a lot of things in a sketched state. So are these drawings that would appear now when the artist has left the world of political satire and France?

Mill REINBERG in his book published by "Alternatives black" in 1986 and entitled "My years PARIS" says the same thing on page 40, I quote: "There was a lively evening on this beautiful night in September, the wine was good , soft music, beautiful girls surrounded us, only one was missing, always the same, struggling with time and its sieve, juggling with its paint, distilling its colored inks from which red dominated as if nothing else existed, a madman full of ideas and talent who painted, drew to sell only survival, keeping his little prints intact like a pear for thirst so as not to wear down the amateurs as he liked to repeat it ... "This artist REINBERG speaks of is of course JIHEL.

It seems that a workshop fund has emerged and is put on sale in the south of France, where JIHEL has stayed for a long time and on several occasions.

To conclude, I think that JIHEL, who refused all his life to have a publisher, published at the same time two broadcasts of drawings, one mainly focused on French territory for his satirical drawings in black and white and this by monthly subscription and another via the United States where the red period was sold all over the world in view of the many foreign collectors who have these cards in their collections. I remain convinced that apart from a small number of privileged people, these two types of production did not interfere with each other, because many of the amateurs consulted only knew of one or the other. So I collected for twenty years the many black and white series of this artist then tired I stopped and here I am returning to the game of the collection in front of this aggression of colors with golden tones that recalls the old drawings, these half-shadows that surround the characters give a major effect of depth that removes the drawing and pushes it towards excellence, this is the real reason for the success of this red period.

Unfortunately the prices are not the same and not being able to buy everything I limited myself to the Commune and Louise Michel, the Red Virgin, the bastard who became the director of a school for the poor on the Montmartre hill, anarchist activist during the Commune from Paris and deported to New Caledonia.

I have the impression with each drawing purchased to find myself in front of an open book that I particularly liked entitled "Georges et Louise" by Michel RAGON (1) and to find many characters, Clemenceau of course, Théophile Ferré of course, but also Gambetta, Vallès, Rochefort and many other actors of this time, but also characters out of time like Voltaire, Talleyrand or Robespierre uchronized skilfully by the author.

Manuel Di Rosa (Curator of the Bas Languedoc anarchist fund)

(1) Published by Albin Michel.

JIHEL or the surrealist alphabet

-A like Anarchist, no need to dwell on it, his drawings and his writings largely testify to it, or even Armenia, a constant fight for the recognition of the Armenian genocide.

-B as a Bibliophile, passionate about beautiful and rare books, over the years he built up a first-rate library from which he drew our enchantment.

-C like Cléo de Mérode, her muse, her love, he will grind her to the point of becoming her paper lover to the detriment of a Leopold II or other greats of that time who are being abused.

-D like Déconstruction or Dubuffet, but one does not go without the other, follower of one and accomplice-friend of the other.

-E like Egrégore his mythical black cat who intervenes in length of drawings and this since May 68, this word is drawn from the Masonic symbolism.

-F like Freemasonry or Ferré (Léo) there too one does not go without the other even if he had to undergo a lawsuit on this subject brought by the last family of Léo who seeks to erase the past of the poet (La the family also attacked the LATTES and Nouvel Observateur editions at the same time) Everything suggests that JIHEL is a freemason.

-G like left, he will say and repeat about it always "I am faithful to my roots and to two three principles of the left, no more ...)

-H like humor often cowardly, offbeat and sharp but always there, even if very often misunderstood in a first reading (to be read between the lines.)

-I as an illustrator, crazy and prolific, passionate to the point of forgetting everything else. He would be the author of tens of thousands of drawings both in the press, illustration of books or postcards.

-J like Jihel, his fetish nickname that he will manipulate over the years, abandoning it for many years then taking it back, -Joconde or Jaurès as desired, one goes with the others but one (Mona Lisa) goes without the other (Jaurès) but both punctuate the artist's production over time.

-K like Kaiser, Guillaume II, his Turkish head, he became infatuated with this character to a point which is only matched by the Emperor's endless mustaches.

-L as a libertarian that he has been and will be throughout his life without denying himself for a moment which, moreover, is rare, he will always reproach those who have denied themselves for having done so as to highlight his loyalty to his ideal of life.

-M like May 68, his dear missed Commune, "abortive utopia" he will say in a conference as a realist revolutionary.

-N for black, it will repeat "This color is not negative, in fact it contains all the colors in my palette."

-O as a conscientious objector that he was for political reasons.

-P for philosophy or poet, his own way of raising his mind above his work table until it fell flat on his drawings (See the series: La carte philosophique, 100 issues.)

-Q as a question, in perpetual research, his questioning becomes disturbing to see a police officer while he is only the result of research, annoying all the same when you do not know him.

-R for romanticism, the first and the last romantic anarchist in the abortive sense of the word.

-S as a semantics, he will say: "Words are my universe, they are discovered to me to make me share a de facto insolence."

-T like Talleyrand, for having crunched the Prince of Diplomats to the dregs, this designer deserves the book of records (Even if he doesn't like too bad)

-U as an uchronist of which he naturally becomes the leader (pictorial movement created at the beginning of the 80s) he will slam the door 3 years later by continuing alone his delusions of uchronia.

-V like Voltaire, for the record a bust of the famous thinker always accompanied him during exhibitions or signatures, but one day in a Parisian bookstore during a dedication this little bronze was stolen from him. Two years later he found it at the Clignancourt flea market, he himself had engraved Masonic symbols under the terrace, he bought it back.

-W like WILDE Oscar this English Freemason writer whose talent he admires and especially the quotes.

-X as pornography, the hidden part of his creation, during his Italian period to finance extreme left movements, he devoted himself to pornographic drawing, see more for ephemeral reviews.

-Y for Yeuse, this tree also called holm oak which he likes to touch, prickly and rough, a bit like him in fact.

-Z like Zeller, the grand master of the Grand Orient de France in 1971 and 1972, former secretary of Trotsky and talented painter, he was his friend and the one who welcomed him at the heart of the events of May 68.

Ir OLDEWELT Philosopher (Amsterdam)

JIHEL

"Women love us for our faults, if we have enough they will even forgive us our intelligence" It is with this quote from Oscar Wilde that one day in May 68, I met Jacques LARDIE who was going to become the JIHEL that we know, he sent it right in my face while I challenged a slogan that was too libertarian for my taste on the women of which he was the author. I kept a copy of this poster by affixing the name of its author on the back, without knowing that almost twenty years later, returning to my country, Sweden after my studies in France, I would incidentally cross paths with this rare artist with an international audience.

This intelligent, sensitive and torn being came back to knock on my door with his creations which I ignored the existence for more than twenty years, passionate about "the little story" of the history of France and in particular that of the French Revolution of 1789. I had to reconstruct twenty years of oblivion with fantastic series such as "Cement de l'histoire" or even his serigraphed plates where he is a passer of images. I have to repair an oversight on a nickname very little used by the artist which is: Anoir (A circled in a circle followed by black) Several cards related to Talleyrand have this signature.

I let myself be taken in by the surrealist game of his historical delusions and I began to love his emblematic and repetitive character that is TALLEYRAND through the rigged bias of his limitless imagination where one perceives a feverish exaltation mixed with anxiety.

This intellectual with multiple gifts is a man in a hurry, consuming his private and tumultuous artistic life with an unequaled fever, as a sharp artist, he will leave as and when he meets, testimonies drawn on the personalities he will meet, such as at random, Siné, Topor, Effel, Coluche, Guy Bedos, Higelin, Lavilliers, Pratt, Patricia Carli, etc ... It is a really special work and very instructive if you can read between the lines.

I would also like to say that his deep and active commitment limit activist for the animal protection and for the recognition of the Armenian genocide makes of him in my eyes what one calls a "Big Mister".

Since this month of May of the year 68, many are our friends, our friends who by settling in life have also installed their ideas, reducing them to the minimum portion, so I want to pay tribute here to this child of 68 who remained the same, standing, anar with clenched fists, mulling over his libertarian feelings again and again, and since it is necessary to end I will in turn quote Oscar Wilde "Nowadays all great men have their disciples and so on. 'It is still Judas who writes the biography ".

Peter DORSEY.

JIHEL, an artist among artists.

A very brief meeting during a group exhibition of artists at the Mutualité, but a meeting that would appeal to many others, I will follow this designer to all the Parisian salons for a long decade as I was so captivated by this creator of freedom, it was the end of the 70s, I was a young collector of old documents and journalist by profession, him already confirmed in his art to the point that his stand was swarming with amateurs and admirers, one could say fans, so much hysteria was sometimes present, it was the time of his satirical lifetime, Giscard d'Estaing was President of the Republic and Raymond Barre his Prime Minister.

I'm not sure why I ventured to the stand of this creator, certainly the spirit of the crowd and a little curiosity, but I do not regret it so much this artist knew how to renew the satirical and caricature genre with extravagant drawings and poetic embellished with texts that are often sharp as razor blades.

After having bought him some anarchizing and pacifist creations, I slipped him my idea of making a paper on his original approach, his response was very journalistic, I quote: "Another chestnut tree" Intimidated I pretended to understand but I only later learned what this familiar expression of the press editors meant, it must be remembered that he was a journalist himself for a very long time, it is his side touches everything.

Rejected, I return to the charge during an exhibition at the Quai d'Austerlitz, he then took the time to explain to me that he did not like people writing about him and that he almost systematically refused all interviews. That day I bought her drawings on Léo Ferré, François Béranger, Joan Baez and Catherine Ribeiro, these famous cards called "Prestiges" worked by hand, in watercolor and glazed, little wonders that collectors have found. you had to see the opening of your stand at the start of the exhibition, fans were fighting over the novelties in small runs, it was crazy, it looked like a book signing by a rock star. He took a malicious pleasure in distilling a few drawings, often holding the best in his sleeve, everyone knew it and expected his pleasure. I observed this ritual on many exhibitions, its strength lay in the fact that he knew in advance that he would sell everything, he could have done ten times more but he knew how to limit himself to short runs in order to to create attraction.

I forgot to mention that my specialty as a press journalist is cinema and song, but I am not reluctant to cover writers or painters.

Jihel has surrounded himself with a whole host of singers and actors that he can take a bite out of, who does not know the many tributes to Brassens and Brel but also Barbara, Lavilliers or Renaud, we immediately perceive between these artists and him, the creator , a complicity of ideas, it must be said that Jihel is an attentive watcher who crosses the world of illustration diagonally. By illustrating the songs of Brassens, the films of Marilyn or those of Godard, he gave himself the means not to exhaust the subject.

On the other hand he will be very aggressive with Halliday, Delon, Sardou or Barbelivien, limit odious with Mireille Mathieu but touching with Moustaki or Reggiani.

He will blow hot and cold with Brigitte Bardot not forgetting his commitments to animal protection but will be very critical of his far-right ideas to the point of becoming angry with her.

He will be very ambiguous with his rebellious older sister Catherine Ribeiro, the only one who will not have in the multiple creations devoted to her a single caricature, he will only tell me as if it were obvious "It is perfection made a woman from every point of view, her face does not deserve it "we would have to dig deeper to find the true answer to what we are looking for but that we can easily guess, no need to insist he will not say no more. A word of advice to those who might interview Jihel in the future, don't insist if you don't have an answer to your question, he might shut down for good.

So I followed Jihel in all his Parisian exhibitions and at the time it was four to five times a year, I even met him at an upscale show at the George V and that day I bought him his pirate map dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, it must be said that with its very weak drawing principle, it was necessary to hurry because there was not something for everyone. Each time I took a lot of notes with his agreement in principle, notes of conversations with his amateurs or clients or more simply the fruit of my questioning. At the end of each fair, we took stock of what could or could not be published and, at his request, I hid private conversations, whether family or political, for my analysis. It is true that his stand was a real political platform where many ideas swarmed, I even witnessed during an exhibition at Porte de Versailles a short but violent skirmish with Jewish fundamentalists, that is to say.

I can affirm in this article that Jihel's creations are jerky chants that one can believe repetitive, that nay, the text is often there to recall a different ground, obsessive texts, slang, lyrical, whatever you want but at the end of the day with astounding precision and which hit the mark.

This artist understood everything before everyone else, he shows situations, gender positions, it is the price of success because we are waiting for the rest. A caricature of a character à la "Morchoisne" we make one, two, go three, after that it becomes boring, while positioning Halliday in a political idea from Monaco to Gstaad via Sarkozy or Chirac is interminable under the pen of Jihel.

I am not sure that an artist has escaped his pencil, the most improbable are in his Pantheon at least once, Caussimon, Mouloudji, Tachan, Cholon and hundreds of others, Lennon, Bowie, Piaf, Perret, Trenet etc ... Some will have more luck and will be rewarded with a special series, Sarah Bernhardt, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Jules Verne, Andy Warhol * or even Mounet-Sully.

He will involve in his anarchist series "Black Stone" his close friends, Escudéro, Paco Ibanez, Utgé Royo, Higelin, Lavilliers, Magny, Moustaki, Mouloudji, Victor Jara or even and always Catherine Ribeiro, it does not seem like much but it was for them a real privilege because this series exhibited many times in France and abroad delivers real messages of revolts. It is nevertheless surprising that Ferré was not entitled to a board but I think that this is explained by certain colds between them on several occasions and periods and even if he did not tell me and this despite my eagerness .

This series was created during a period of estrangement between them, a series which began in Paris but which saw its extension to Turin and then New York.

What I found interesting in the fact of constituting a thematic collection of this artist is that nothing is closed, he has always reserved a resale right even and especially twenty years later, you can start from 'an artist, take for example Richepin and you end up with Cléo de Mérode or Louise Michel, you are trained on the slopes of the Paris Commune or of the King of the Belgians without really wanting it, there lies an exceptional force because many Collectors including the author of these lines have thus been trapped by leaving on other subjects in this way, but is it really a trap, I don't think so, rather a pleasure.

Now let's see an artist he adored, at random, let's take Léo Ferré, but is it really luck? From the years 60-80 to the years 90-2000 the form evolves, during the singer's lifetime the criticism is present and often relevant, his absence from the revolt of 68, Pépée, Madeleine, Marie, Barbelivien, Edern Hallier etc ... Léo will accept all or almost all of this familiar from Boulevard Pershing, Ilot Du Guesclin or Perdrigal, He will not follow him to Tuscany, the link was Madeleine. The fracture takes place on his death in 1993, Ferré then intervenes as a great sage who delivers anathemas to those still alive, gives certificates of revolt to Ribeiro, Mama Béa or Francesca Solleville. Jihel will often operate like this for artists with whom he has been close, he will do it with Dubuffet or Jean Effel. He will tell me very simply "It's normal, they can no longer defend themselves, I just wish that the same was done with me."

Hedonist and altruistic at the same time Jihel is animated by the passion for his work, a passion bordering on madness, a strong cultural capital, a phenomenal memory and a great personality this former sixty-eight man who was a Time member of the proletarian left is an intellectual who militates by the knowledge, he will say to me one day by way of conclusion of one of our interviews "I always seek a balance in the confrontation." By asking him the angry question, but why anarchy? I got this unfriendly response, "If your order reigns, then yes I'm an anarchist." This answer allowed me to ask another one that had been trotting me for a long time, Why this creative madness? He was quick to answer this question which often comes up in the mouths of his collectors "When I was younger I had only one leitmotif, occupying the field of ideas, it had become an obsession, my drawings had become pamphlets, scathing, but the ground was mined, I calmed down. There this conversation ended, too bad, I lack answers, but I understood that his creative madness was a militant act and for the piss - vinegar so much the better if he could live on it.

For my part, this artist offers to those who wish to study it several facets of personality, a bit like his artistic career or his personal life, double or triple. A difficult access and a stiffness that closes a lot of doors, certainly wanted and mastered to ward off intruders, a pretext for this time that he lacks, a partitioning of his friends that he will never confuse with his acquaintances, an unfathomable, cold and direct in which sometimes we perceive passion or boredom, but over time we realize that there are huge breaches under the shell, an emotional mad lover of nature, animals, insects, wild flowers and of poetry, a revolted pacifist to the point of excess, I am not sure that this man is happy, too much intelligence borders on unhappiness.

* Regarding this long Warholian series it must be said that Jihel borrowed the best from the artist of pop-art, this series called "WARHOL-ART" is doubly interesting because it takes us into the mysteries of forgotten artists in y mixing artists of our time. Like a Martial RAYSSE, you really have to immerse yourself in this POP period of Jihel to become one with its flamboyant colors. Can rub shoulders with Réjane and Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Michel Simon or even Camus and Foucault, when I say rub shoulders is in the series because each drawing is dedicated to an artist often with two or three Warholized portraits. Towards what I think is the mid-series Jihel dabbled in politics on a few issues. Several artists will be entitled to several boards, the edition is very often 30 numbered copies which makes them rare.

Henri TACHAN, not him, the other, the one that we do not know or that we no longer want to know, finally get by, I remain standing and alive, the journalist profession has left me, c is impregnable crap as the great JIHEL might have said.

Born Jacques Camille LARDIE in 1947 in Périgueux.

Former student of decorative arts.

Graduated from Fine Arts.

He will be decorator on porcelain and enamels in Limoges, creator of posters in May 68, investigative journalist in Nice, mail-artist in Brussels and Milan, photographer in Turin, press designer in Paris, serigraph lithographer in Barcelona, bookseller and publisher in Beaucaire (Gard), sculptor in the United States, self-publisher often and everywhere, creator of art postcards all the time.

Very politically engaged, he will be involved in all the fights that punctuated society in the 60s and 70s, May 68, the Larzac, the rebels, feminism, the Lip, the Joint Français, the sans-papiers, the artists' squats, gradually becoming radicalized to the point of espousing individualist pacifist libertarian ideas.

Creator cartophile unanimously recognized, he will illustrate books, will devote himself to lithography and screen printing, will work on all possible media, will escape on many ex-libris including several on Talleyrand ordered by collectors including Steeve Pokeinstein, Kurt Hayek, Mill Reinberg or Théodor Wittgenstein.

He will sign his plates with many pseudonyms, the most famous of which is Jihel.

He will always see himself as a thief of images and words, believing that everything has been said or done.

Passionate about history, he will remember two salient facts, the French Revolution of 1789 and the Paris Commune of 1871, he will take away two emblematic characters: Talleyrand and Louise Michel who will accompany him for decades.

Even if everything opposes these two characters, there is a bond stronger than anything: They were both Freemasons.

He will enamel his drawings for more than forty years with a multitude of symbols (Scatological, Masonic, animalist etc ...).

In his mad delirium as a designer, he will mix the eras according to his nocturnal inspirations in an almost surrealist fresco. For example, it is more than surprising to see the mayor of Nice Jacques Médecin speak with Talleyrand who himself discusses with Guillaume II and Gambetta on the assassination of the Duke of Enghien and on the Congress of Vienna. This satirical way of mixing eras and characters at this point has never existed in the history of caricature and gives the artist this very special personality which makes him unclassifiable, which he claims to be, he who refuses and refused any tribute or decoration.

Many magazines or books make references to his pictorial work, if one had to be retained, it would be volume III by Fabien ZELLER entitled "Cement de l'histoire, series of drawings by the artist Jihel, the heart of a surrealist adventure "edition of the mosaic pavement published in December 1983, limited and numbered edition in 800 copies, 241 pages, one drawing per page with an attempt to explain the author who indulges there in convolutions worthy of a trapeze artist from high flight, Jihel refusing to intervene in the explanation of some of his cartoon-riddles. This book is interesting because the author brings in a large number of the artist's friends such as Benny Lévy, Léo Ferré, Guy Bedos, Jean Roger Caussimon, François Maspéro, Louis Lippens, Serge July, Léo Campion, Jean Paul Dollé, Jacques Higelin, Joelle and Gérard Neudin, André Fildier, Oziouls, Pierre Desproges, Gébé, Niki de Saint Phalle etc ...

This author Fabien Zeller has edited five books on Jihel and his winding journey in the art world, including a book of interviews.

Mail-art

A pioneer in the revival of postal or mail-art art, he designed his first libertarian envelopes at the end of the 60s when this art was largely dormant, he will claim this commitment inherited from the futuristic movement FLUXUS with the main idea that everything can to be art.

Many envelopes feature Talleyrand between the years 75 and 2000 for a correspondence between artists mainly

Museums

Plates or drawings with the representation of the Prince appear in the following museums:

Jaurès Museum in Castres

Jean Jaurès Foundation

Museum of the Grand Orient de France in Paris

Museum of the city of Noumea - New Caledonia

Gambetta Museum in Cahors

Exhibitions

With unparalleled intransigence, he will only exhibit himself in places linked to his ideas, he will refuse the constraints, the assurances and the coping of his exhibitions, here are some places where Talleyrand was exposed:

1972 - bookstore le trait noir Lyon in the Duchère district,

1974 and 1981 - ALMADA libertarian culture center in Portugal facing Lisbon,

1976 - Nice, exhibition on the Paris Commune with edition of plates on site in serigraphic process,

1977 - New-York, exhibition of the Pokeinstein collection entitled "Sur les traces de Talleyrand",

1994 - London, August September, exhibition "Cement of History" Royal Horticultural Society's Hall, Westminster

On Wikipedia, a page is devoted to the Ciment de l'Histoire series see: CIMENT DE L'HISTOIRE

1994 - Paris, drawings by Talleyrand will appear in the National Assembly during its exhibition in September and October under the presidency of Philippe Seguin - Jihel will not be present at the opening,

1995 - New-York exhibition Blackout Books,

2008 - Turin, October November, exhibition entitled "Talleyrand invites himself to the exhibition",

2010 - Turin, exhibition entitled "The torments of the Empire, Napoleon and Talleyrand",

The series of postcards related to Talleyrand.

Cement of history

Talleyrand and the Kaiser

Collection-Collectors

Images borrowed to smile

Nice Flamboyant

Nice surreal

The Niçoise label

Nice bubbles

The surreal ambiguities of history

Artists' windows

Imaginary encounters

Limoges-Limousinage

Polished stone at Saint Martial - Series on Limoges

Metals in the eternal east of Angers

The tormented life of the great masters

The great masters

Social allegory

Our absintheurs

Personalities and absinthe

A turkey with the brothers - on Catherine Talleyrand

The princes of the royal secret

The three points Pau

Albi of the starry vault - 2 maps on Talleyrand out of the 34 published

Thanks to Mr. Steeve Pokeinstein, author of this biography of Jihel.