Edmond Kiraz


Edmond Kiraz, born Kirazian was an Egyptian-born French-Armenian cartoonist, painter, and illustrator.

Biography

Edmond Kirazian was born on 25 August 1923 in Cairo, and was of Armenian descent. He was named after French writer Edmond Rostand.
Kiraz started painting from an early age, and had apprenticed under Armenian artist Ashot Zorian. Kiraz began his career as a political cartoonist at age 17 in Egypt. Kiraz later studied at the Nubarian National College in Cairo. He emigrated post-World War II to Paris.
In 1950 he created the comic strip, Line. In 1959, while he was working for the French magazine Jours de France, his boss, Marcel Dassault, had him move from politics to humor. As time passed, Kiraz developed a distinctive and humorous pictorial style of representing women that he called Les Parisiennes: very thin, with long legs, small breasts, and a pouty face. His cartoons are often not only humorous but slightly naughty or erotic, and since 1970 he had contributed regularly to Playboy magazine.

Cartoon collections

  • Lissi, Diogène, 1954.
  • Carnet de belles, Pulcinella, 1959.
  • Les Parisiennes , Denoël, 1963.
  • Les Parisiennes au volant, Denoël, 1966.
  • La Parfaite Secrétaire, Denoël, 1967.
  • Parlez-moi de moi : les Parisiennes, Denoël, 1973.
  • Sonate à quatre mains, Filipacchi-Denoël, 1978.
  • Les Femmes de Kiraz, Plon, 1985.
  • Les Parisiennes se marient, Assouline, 1994.
  • Je les aime comme ça , Denoël, 2000.
  • Jamais le premier soir , Denoël, 2001.
  • Kiraz dans Playboy , Denoël, 2002.
  • Elles et moi , Denoël, 2003.
  • Mini drames, Denoël, 2005.