Le Sens de l’humour
Inscribed and signed to Régine Deforges and Pierre Wiazemsky, with a large drawing, signed and dated.
Le Sens de l’humour brings together a selection of sketches and drawings interspersed with Georges Wolinski’s reflections on his craft as a cartoonist, in which he questions, as he often did, his role as an observer of society.
Wolinski remains one of the historic figures of Charlie Hebdo, co-founder of the title in 1970 after Hara-Kiri, and a member of its editorial staff until his assassination in the January 2015 terrorist attack. He held a central place there.
A fine copy, with a presentation inscription and a large drawing, given to Régine Deforges and her partner, Wiaz (Pierre Wiazemsky). Although not a regular contributor to Charlie Hebdo, Wiaz was for many years the resident caricaturist of Le Nouvel Observateur and actively took part in the program “Droit de réponse,” hosted by Michel Polac from 1981 to 1987. Alongside Cabu, Siné and Wolinski, Wiaz illustrated the program’s debates live on a graphics tablet: it was one of his drawings, brandished on air by the host, that reportedly led to the program’s cancellation on 19 September 1987. The subject was corruption in the construction industry, and it did not spare the new owner of TF1, the businessman Francis Bouygues: Wiaz’s drawing read, “Une maison de maçon, un pont de maçon, une télé de m…” His commitment to freedom of expression made him a respected figure on the French graphic arts scene, winning six awards at the Festival d’Angoulême.
A grandson of François Mauriac, he was for a time, from 1967 to 1970, the brother-in-law of Jean-Luc Godard (married to his sister Anne, whom Godard met in the summer of 1965 on the set of Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar).
From the Deforges library (with bookplate and inscription).