The cartoonist of argentinean Guillermo Mordillo died at 86 years on the Spanish island of Majorca, a-t-on learned Monday from its representatives. “We are very sad to confirm that Mr. Mordillo died in the night from 29 to 30 June”, indicated to the AFP a spokesperson of the company Rubinstein, based in the netherlands and the holder of the rights on his work.

His illustrations were imbued with a dark humour that he defined himself as “the tenderness of fear”. One of the best works released at the announcement of his death on the social network bears witness to it: it depicts a man took him unceremoniously by the police, when he comes to paint the roof of his house, great waves rose, in a street in the villas evenly and hopelessly grey. “People sometimes ask me how I come up with an idea. It is clear to me: ideas are like butterflies, they flutter so fleeting, and I try to catch them,” he said in an interview in 2011.

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Mordillo was installed in 1963 in Paris, where her illustrations were published by Him, Paris-Match, Marie-Claire or even Pif Gadget. Mordillo/Glénat

Mordillo was born in Buenos Aires in 1932, the same year that his compatriot Quino and that the illustrator French Sempé, whom he has often been compared. He had begun his career in advertising and illustration, before founding 20 years the studio of cartoons Calas, according to Glénat, the French editor of his works at the edge between the comic and the drawing of humor. It was installed in 1963 in Paris, where her illustrations were published by Him, Paris-Match, Marie-Claire or Pif Gadget . He had then moved to Spain, according to Glénat, who noted, in particular, its “success astronomical in England and Germany”.

“We have received a large number of condolences through social networks, which reflect its popularity across the world, and the respect that he inspired in all generations”, said in an email to AFP Peter and Geraldine Radzimn, of the company Art Petrus is based in Monaco, which broadcast including prints from the collection of his works. The book fair, Bologna children, in Italy, it was dedicated in 1998 a special exhibition entitled “the secret garden of Mordillo”, conceived as a “loving tribute to one of the illustrators of the most important of the century”.

This exhibition included his first animated cartoon, realized at the age of 12 years, his first illustrations of the 1950s in Argentina and Peru, his fables for children without dialogue dating back to the 1970s or even its animation work focusing on the giraffes. A ceremony is to take place Thursday in Mallorca, according to Art Petrus.