Description
Andre Francois was born to an Hungarian family in Temesvar, Austria-Hungary (now Timi?oara, Romania). He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest (1932-33). He moved to Paris in 1934 and entered the atelier of the famous poster artist Adolphe Cassandre (1935-36). He became a French citizen in 1939.
He worked as a painter, sculptor and graphic designer, but is best remembered for his cartoons, whose subtle humor and wide influence bear comparison to those of Saul Steinberg. The artist Roger Etienne has also done similar works. Fran?ois initially worked for French leftist newspapers (Le Nouvel Observateur) and illustrated books by authors such as Jacques Pr?vert, but gradually reached a larger audience, publishing in leading magazines of the United Kingdom (Punch) and the United States (The New Yorker). He also did a masterpiece cover illustration of the 1965 UK Penguin paperback edition of Lord of the Flies. He became a close friend and collaborator of Ronald Searle. He was member of Alliance Graphique Internationale.
He died in his home in Grisy-les-Platres, in the Val-d'Oise d?partment.
His death notice is as follows: Andr? Fran?ois, the French cartoonist and illustrator whose biting satires of the human comedy influenced a generation of American editorial illustrators to veer from traditional realism, died on Monday at his home in Grisy-les-Platres, France. He was 89.
The cause was heart and kidney failure, said a friend, the children's book illustrator ?tienne Delessert.
From the 1950's through the 80's, Mr. Fran?ois's work appeared frequently in leading French satiric magazines and in popular American publications like The New Yorker, Holiday, Vogue and Sports Illustrated, as well as in children's and adult illustrated books and advertising posters.
In the 50's and 60's romantic realism and literalism were the reigning conventions for illustration in the United States. But in Europe many illustrators had earlier embraced abstract and impressionist art. Mr. Fran?ois's crude but sensual black-and-white brush drawings and starkly colored paintings, employing surreal and ironic juxtapositions, introduced serious whimsy to conservative commercial art. He also injected a comedic eroticism that broke various taboos.
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Condition
Used
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20%
ANDRE FRANCOIS Mid Century Mixed Media & Collage Clown With a Violin
Estimate $100-$120
Starting Price
$40
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53633
Prints and Fine Art
Mar 12, 2026 1:00 PM EDTNew York, NY, United States
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