Cabu

Who is Cabu?

Cabu is a French comic strip artist and caricaturist.

He started out studying art at the École Estienne in Paris and his drawings were first published by 1954 in a local newspaper. The Algerian War forced him to be conscripted in Army for over two years, where his talent was used in the army magazine Bled and in Paris-Match. His time in the army caused him to become a strident anti-militarist and adopt a slightly anarchistic view of society.

In 1960, after he left the Army, he became one of the founders of Hara-Kiri magazine. In the 70s and 80s, he became a very popular artist, collaborating for a time with the children's TV programme, Récré A2. He continued working in political caricature for Charlie Hebdo and Le Canard enchaîné.

His popular characters include Le Grand Duduche and adjudant Kronenbourg, and especially Mon Beauf. So spot-on was this caricature of an average, racist, sexist, vulgar, ordinary Frenchman that the word 'beauf' has slipped into ordinary use.