Edmond Kiraz

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.[2]

Kiraz started painting from an early age, and had apprenticed under Armenian artist Ashot Zorian.[2] Kiraz began his career as a political cartoonist at age 17 (without formal artistic training) in Egypt.[3] Kiraz later studied at the Nubarian National College in Cairo.[2] He emigrated post-World War II to Paris.[2]

In 1950 he created the comic strip, Line.[4] 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.[5]

• Lissi, Diogène, 1954.
• Carnet de belles, Pulcinella, 1959.
• Les Parisiennes (Parisian Women), Denoël, 1963.
• Les Parisiennes au volant, Denoël, 1966.
• La Parfaite Secrétaire, Denoël, 1967.
• Parlez-moi de moi : les Parisiennes, Denoël, 1973.
• Sonate à quatre mains, Filipacchi-Denoël, 1978.
• Les Femmes de Kiraz, Plon, 1985.
• Les Parisiennes se marient, Assouline, 1994.
• Je les aime comme ça (I Like Them That Way), Denoël, 2000.
• Jamais le premier soir (Never the First Night), Denoël, 2001.
• Kiraz dans Playboy (Kiraz in Playboy), Denoël, 2002.
• Elles et moi (The Girls and I), Denoël, 2003.
• Mini drames, Denoël, 2005.

• Kiraz' website
• Lambiek Comiclopedia article.