Emmanuel Poiré which, attested in Russian from the 16th–17th centuries, is in turn a borrowing from a Turkic language.

When the stationery company Fabrique Genevoise de Crayons Ecridor came under new management in 1924, the company was renamed Caran d'Ache, after Poiré, with a nod to the pseudonym's etymological roots.

Biography

Born in Moscow on 6 November 1858, d'Ache was the grandson of an Officer-Grenadier in Napoleon's Grande Armée who, wounded during the Battle of Borodino, had stayed behind in Russia. After his grandfather's death, he was adopted by a Polish family whose daughter he later married. His younger sister, Maria Poiret, became a famous dancer and actress.

In 1877, he emigrated to France where he gained French citizenship and joined the Army

In 1898 he co-founded the satirical, anti-Dreyfusard weekly magazine Psst... ! along with fellow artist and designer Jean-Louis Forain. The magazine lasted 85 issues and was made up entirely of editorial cartoons by Caran d'Ache and Forain, caricaturing society and its scandals from an antisemitic, pro-Army viewpoint.

He died in Paris on 25 February 1909 at the age of 50.

Works

thumb|upright=1.0|right|Caran d'Ache's most famous cartoon. The [[Dreyfus Affair divided the whole of French society. Here, Caran d'Ache depicts a fictional family dinner. At the top, somebody remarks "Above all, let's not discuss the Dreyfus Affair!". At the bottom, the family is fighting and the caption reads, "They discussed it."]]

Much of his work was contributed to La Vie Parisienne, Le Figaro illustré, La Caricature, and Le Chat Noir. He also issued various albums of sketches and posters, some listed below. and illustrated a good many books, notably Benardaky's Prince Kozakokoff.

  • 1892: Caran d'Ache published Carnet de Chèques ("Checkbook") on the Panama Canal Affair.
  • 1895: He started publishing editorial cartoons (every Monday) in the daily Le Figaro, and soon thereafter for the popular weekly Le Rire.
  • A poster for an «Exposition Russe» in Paris was published in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche.
  • 1898: Caran d'Ache published the cartoon ("A Family Dinner"), highlighting the intense disagreements in French society regarding the Dreyfus Affair. It appeared a month after Émile Zola's famous J'Accuse, which inflamed and hardened opinion on both sides.

Sources

  • Caran d'Ache biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia

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