Edmond Kiraz

Edmond Kiraz, born Kirazian (25 August 1923 – 11 August 2020){{Cite web |date=2020-08-11 |title=Décès d'Edmond Kiraz, le dessinateur des élégantes "Parisiennes" |url=https://www.leparisien.fr/culture-loisirs/jours-de-france-playboy-paris-match-deces-d-edmond-kiraz-le-dessinateur-des-elegantes-parisiennes-11-08-2020-8366355.php |accessdate=2020-08-11 |website=Le Parisien |language=fr}} was an Egyptian-born French-Armenian cartoonist, painter, and illustrator.

Biography

Edmond Kirazian (or Kirazyan) was born on 25 August 1923 in Cairo, and was of Armenian descent. He was named after French writer Edmond Rostand.

Kiraz started painting from an early age, and had apprenticed under Armenian artist Ashot Zorian.{{Cite web |last=Բախչինյան |first=Արծվի |date=2020-08-21 |title=ՈՉ ԵՎՍ Է ՓԱՐԻԶՈՒՀԻՆԵՐԻ ՀԱՅԱԶԳԻ ՆԿԱՐԻՉԸ |trans-title=No More Parisian Painters |url=https://azg.am/am/2020082111/ |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=Ազգ |language=hy-AM}} Kiraz began his career as a political cartoonist at age 17 (without formal artistic training) in Egypt.{{cn|date=March 2024}} Kiraz later studied at the Nubarian National College in Cairo. He emigrated post-World War II to Paris.

In 1950 he created the comic strip, Line.{{Cite web |date=August 15, 2020 |title=Kiraz |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/kiraz.htm |website=Lambiek.net}} In 1959, while he was working for the French magazine Jours de France, his boss, Marcel Dassault, had him move from politics to humor. As time passed, Kiraz developed a distinctive and humorous pictorial style of representing women that he called Les Parisiennes: very thin, with long legs, small breasts, and a pouty face. His cartoons are often not only humorous but slightly naughty or erotic, and since 1970 he had contributed regularly to Playboy magazine.{{Cite web |title=EDMOND KIRAZ (American, b. 1923). Playboy cartoon illustration, | Lot #93043 |url=https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/edmond-kiraz-american-b-1923-playboy-cartoon-illustration-page-149-june-1973gouache-on-board12-x-9/a/7017-93043.s |website=comics.ha.com}}