Holidays | Illustrations by Jean-Jacques Sempé, 1932-2022

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Jean-Jacques Sempé [1932-2022], was a French cartoonist. He was expelled from school as a young man, and then failed to pass exams for the post office, a bank and the railroad. He then found work selling tooth powder as a door-to-door salesman and also worked delivering wine by bicycle in the Gironde. After lying about his age, he joined the army in 1950, he subsequently explained, and would occasionally get into trouble for drawing while he was supposed to be keeping watch during guard duty.

After being discharged from the army, he moved to Paris and began working with René Goscinny. His work has appeared as the cover of The New Yorker magazine many times.