Cartoons and Contemporary French Politics

A talk by Prof. Grace Neville

University College Cork

Wednesday 10th October 2012 at 6pm

At Alliance Française de Cork Gallery. Admission free – all welcome!

Talk held in English

This presentation will outline the central importance of ‘le neuvieme art’: cartoons and cartooning , in contemporary France. The high level of visual literacy in France that underpins the popularity of cartoons among young and old in France is often contextualised in the age-old tradition of using images to represent and interpret the world, from the time of the cave artists in Lascaux onwards. From among a very wide and diverse range of contemporary cartoonists that includes Reiser, Cabu, Bretecher, Sempe, this paper will focus on the work of Plantu (born 1951) who has been a main contributor to Le Monde for the past forty years. Some of the myriad of themes and topics that he represents in his work, focusing on France from the inside out, along with their often contentious reception, will be illustrated and discussed.