CAROLINE IMBERT Fine Art JEAN PLANTU(Paris 1951) "Pompidou" Signed lower right: Plantu Black felt-tip: 19.5 x 9 cm Artist Biography: All rights reserved 1951: Jean Plantureux, known as Plantu, is born in Paris. 1969: Plantu passes his baccalauréat after studying at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris 1971: He abandons his medical training and leaves for Brussels where he attends drawing classes at The Academy of St. Luke founded by Hergé. 1972: He returns to Paris and shows his drawings to several newspaper editors before starting at Le Monde. On 1st October Bernard Lauzanne, editor of Le Monde, publishes a drawing by Plantu (relating to the Vietman War) for the first time. 1974: Claude Julien, director of Le Monde Diplomatique commissions Plantu to produce a monthly drawing on the theme of the Third World. 1980: Plantu begins to work with the newspaper Phosphore - he continues to provide them with illustrations until 1986. 1982: André Laurens, director of Le Monde, and Claude Lamotte, editor, ask Plantu to make a drawing for the front page every Saturday. He takes part in the programme Droit de Réponse on TFI (French television). 1985: The director of publication, André Fontaine, established the practise of showing a Plantu drawing every day on the front page of the newspaper in order "to rivive the French tradition to political drawing" 1988: Winner of the Mumm Champagne Award 1989: Winner of the prize for black humour 1991: He joins the weekly magazine L'Express. At an exhibition of his work in Tunis in November of the same year Plantu meets Yasser Arafat and invites him to comment on his drawings. Arafat himself draws the Star of David from the Isreali national flag on one of Plantu's drawings. Winner of Rare Document Award at the Scoop Festival in Angers. 1992: Plantu meets Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. For the first time, the signatures of the head of the PLO and the leader of the Israeli diplomatic mission appear on the same document (a drawing by Plantu) - a whole year before the Oslo Agreement in 1993. During a press conference in Amann Plantu invites King Hussein of Jordan and François Mitterrand to comment on one of his drawings on the Middle East. 1995: Le Monde changes format. Plantu no longer has the freedom to choose the subjects of his drawings. 1996: Plantu exhibits his drawings and sculptures on the theme of The Law at the Cour de Cassation in Paris. 1998: The French Post Office produces a 3FF stamp designed by Plantu in aid of the organisation Médecins sans Frontières. 8.5 million copies of the stamp were printed. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNESCO produces several dozen foreign publications illustrated by Plantu. His drawings are translated into Chinese, Japanese, Ukrainian, Georgian and numerous other languages. Le Monde, October 1972, published in Le Douanier se fait la Malle in 1992, repr. p. 4 Artist description: All rights reserved 1951: Jean Plantureux, known as Plantu, is born in Paris. 1969: Plantu passes his baccalauréat after studying at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris 1971: He abandons his medical training and leaves for Brussels where he attends drawing classes at The Academy of St. Luke founded by Hergé. 1972: He returns to Paris and shows his drawings to several newspaper editors before starting at Le Monde. On 1st October Bernard Lauzanne, editor of Le Monde, publishes a drawing by Plantu (relating to the Vietman War) for the first time. 1974: Claude Julien, director of Le Monde Diplomatique commissions Plantu to produce a monthly drawing on the theme of the Third World. 1980: Plantu begins to work with the newspaper Phosphore - he continues to provide them with illustrations until 1986. 1982: André Laurens, director of Le Monde, and Claude Lamotte, editor, ask Plantu to make a drawing for the front page every Saturday. He takes part in the programme Droit de Réponse on TFI (French television). 1985: The director of publication, André Fontaine, established the practise of showing a Plantu drawing every day on the front page of the newspaper in order "to rivive the French tradition to political drawing" 1988: Winner of the Mumm Champagne Award 1989: Winner of the prize for black humour 1991: He joins the weekly magazine L'Express. At an exhibition of his work in Tunis in November of the same year Plantu meets Yasser Arafat and invites him to comment on his drawings. Arafat himself draws the Star of David from the Isreali national flag on one of Plantu's drawings. Winner of Rare Document Award at the Scoop Festival in Angers. 1992: Plantu meets Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. For the first time, the signatures of the head of the PLO and the leader of the Israeli diplomatic mission appear on the same document (a drawing by Plantu) - a whole year before the Oslo Agreement in 1993. During a press conference in Amann Plantu invites King Hussein of Jordan and François Mitterrand to comment on one of his drawings on the Middle East. 1995: Le Monde changes format. Plantu no longer has the freedom to choose the subjects of his drawings. 1996: Plantu exhibits his drawings and sculptures on the theme of The Law at the Cour de Cassation in Paris. 1998: The French Post Office produces a 3FF stamp designed by Plantu in aid of the organisation Médecins sans Frontières. 8.5 million copies of the stamp were printed. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNESCO produces several dozen foreign publications illustrated by Plantu. His drawings are translated into Chinese, Japanese, Ukrainian, Georgian and numerous other languages..