Sunday, April 8, 2012

From the Library of Jean-Jacques Sempé

I just love cartoons about books, reading, and libraries.  Especially libraries, both the public and private-home variety!


Today in fact begins National Library Week. In honor of this special occasion, I have selected a drawing by the prodigiously-talented Jean-Jacques Sempé, whom I gather also loves libraries, books, and reading, as well as cats and crowds and Paris. With the help of superb artists like Sempé, I'll bet I can keep this up all week!

http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2012/02/12821/paris-elsewhere/
April 10, 2012 Update:  Claude Haber sends along this photo of the original Sempé drawing. He took it in January of 2012 at the exhibition Sempé, un peu de Paris et d’ailleurs, at L’Hôtel de Ville. This was the very first Sempé retrospective held in Paris and--sorry!-- it just ended on March 31.  As you can see, the image I have above shows only the central area of a much larger work. This photo gives a good idea of the scale of the original drawing. Just look at how the viewer is pulled into it!
Exhibition Photo by Claude Haber
Below, here is the image I should have gone with from the beginning if I had done my homework or, given what week this is, consulted a proper librarian:
Jean-Jacques Sempé, Le chat dans la grande bibliothèque

Claude Haber, bless him, also provides the screen shot below of the auction result for this piece. He seems to understand this blog post's needs better than I do! Anyway, it's a bit humbling when you find a lovely drawing, decide to post it on your blog, and then find out it already sold for more than ten times its estimate. In other words, someone else thinks it's pretty awesome too!

Drouot Richelieu, Salle 7, Design: Des années 1960 aux années 2000, Paris, Wednesday, April 01, 2009



Note:  Yes, I've written about Jean-Jacques Sempé before. How could I not? You can check out my blog post here but don't expect to see any more library books or cute cats.

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