On the wall, luscious naked women running, a couple embracing tenderly, mischievous stories framed by panels in a style reminiscent of Will Eisner in The Queen of Apples, drawings that, since 1979, denounce the preeminence of communication or the autocratic temptations of leaders… All the ferocity, humor and tenderness of Georges Wolinski’s line are represented. Politics, society… His talent remains unequaled for sketching the battles of his time with humor (60 years of drawing) in titles as diverse asHara Kiri, Charlie Hebdo, the JDD Or the point.
The opportunity to grieve
The three sisters explain that at the time of the 2015 attackthey protected themselves by going to Lisbon, far from the violent images. Since then, they have not had the opportunity to talk about it again. Especially as Natacha explains: ” We don’t come from a very demonstrative family. Our father raised us not with severity, but we don’t say our feelings, we don’t complain. He himself had lost his father at the age of two, and had then been raised without a mother. When we lost our own mother, we didn’t talk about it either.” (Natacha and Frédérica are the daughters of Georges Wolinski’s first marriage, and Elsa Wolinski is the daughter of Maryse, his second wife, editor’s note). Elsa Wolinski adds: ” When my mother told me about my father’s death, she told me, “Don’t cry.” I remained in this taboo.” It was only at the trial that Frédérica dared to ask questions about the attack. Today, as they gathered around her boards, the tears of Georges Wolinski’s daughters came: “We are here to praise a father we loved, it brings us together, but it also moves us. We are grieving late.”
A drawing that speaks to everyone
For gallery owner Ronan Lancelot, a drawing that speaks to everyone is the great talent of Wolinski. “His style is intergenerational, and he speaks to a very broad audience. The spontaneity of his style contributes a lot to this. A release in the drawing that Cavanna had advised him to do. And that Georges Wolinski adopts all the more since he notes that the public is then more receptive.” But is drawing naked women still acceptable today? The gallery owner explains: “There are a lot of naked women, but not only that. It is mainly about human relationships, as in the work of Claire Bretécher, a sociologist of her time. Wolinski calls himself a phallocrat, but we can’t take him seriously. It’s ironic. But that requires a minimum of intelligence, a step aside that is indeed very difficult to take today.”
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A timeless work and values
What remains of Wolinski today? For Elsa, her father fought against homophobia. He was one of the first cartoonists to fight for equal pay for men and women, against hunger, for the right to abortion… “He is one of those who opened the floodgates. Doing this exhibition allows us to shake things up a little and bring these issues and our values, not just our family values, back into fashion. We owe him a lot.” For his daughters, his work is timeless. “since he mocks the human comedy, the relationships between women, between the poor and the rich, and this, at the level of the individual, or of society. His drawings are like shortcuts that synthesize all our paradoxes. We all have vices and virtues, we all tell small and big lies… And what’s more, if we can laugh about it, it’s wonderful.” Is press cartooning in good health? For the heirs of Georges Wolinski, “Some cartoonists say that it is becoming too difficult. Those who continue must walk on eggshells. Our father said that he worked for the JDD (a newspaper labelled as right-wing) as for L’Humanité (the PCF daily), and defended himself by saying “I work there because I am never censored!”
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