Edmond Kiraz 1923 - 2020

 “You can always count on me, André. I'll watch you if no one wants you!”

 

Edmond Kiraz, best known for his "Les Parisiennes" humorous/erotic drawings of long legged women first for the French magazine Jours de France, then for Playboy magazine, died on Tuesday. He was 96.

 His companion told AFP.

"'Edmond Kiraz, born in Cairo on August 25, 1923, died serenely in the early morning of this Tuesday, August 11, 2020, in his Parisian apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris that he loved so much', confided Sabine Bastien, the companion of the illustrator who drew for thirty years for Marcel Dassault's weekly 'Jours de France.'"

Born Edmond Kirazian in Cairo, "Kiraz" began as a cartoonist in Egypt at the age of 17. He moved to Paris five years later.

 France24:

"Raised in a Francophile family of Armenian origin, he moved to Paris at the age of 22, immediately falling under the spell of the 'Parisiennes' whom he saw as 'dragonflies.'

"Slender silhouette, huge eyes, the 'Parisiennes' sketched by Kiraz were sophisticated and terribly stereotypical, ingenuous and brainless, mainly concerned with shopping and fashion. In addition to 'Jours de France' where he was hired directly by Marcel Dassault to 'draw pretty women,' the designer worked in particular for Playboy, Paris Match and Vogue."

 

He didn't have artistic training. "I have always drawn. I have never done artistic studies, never! Besides, I find that it cuts everything!" he explained in 2011 in an interview published by the ActuaBD site.

He worked for advertising agencies for brands like Renault and Perrier, among many others. He began a decades-long relationship as a contract cartoonist with Playboy Magazine beginning in 1970. In 2008, he had a career retrospective at the Carnavalet museum in Paris.

From the Kiraz Facebook page:

 

Avant l'arrivée des frimas, les Parisiennes n'hésitent jamais à partir en week-end en forêt pour prendre un bol d'air. Ressourcez-vous les belles, et puis réjouissez-vous, vous allez enfin pouvoir sortir vos bottes!

Translation:

Before the arrival of the frimas, Parisians never hesitate to go on a weekend in the forest to get a bowl of air. Recharge your batteries, and then rejoice, you'll finally be able to take your boots out!