CHARTIER Albert
“Above all it’s about passion and talent. … Talent is essential either you have it or you don’t. … You also have to have passion because nothing lets talent develop like passion and you need it to keep driving your talent day and day out.” Albert Chartier. Drawn& Quarterly v. 5: August 2003: 119.
Maurice Horn has noted that Chartier is now regarded as the dean of Québécois cartoonists. His style and humour are typically Québecois and often accurately reflect the views and attitudes of that community.
Chartier was born June 16 1912 in Québec. He studied at Mont Saint-Louis, l’École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal and Chicago’s Meyer Both. He began his career in 1936 with a daily cartoon strip “Boulboule” written by René Boivin published in Le Patrie. He went to New York in 1940 and stayed 2 years drawing a humour panel for Columbia Comics Corp. During World War 2 he worked at the Information Office, Ottawa as an editorial cartoonist. His cartoons were published in English speaking countries around the world.
In 1943 he created “Onésime” for Bulletin des Agriculteurs recounting the adventures and misadventures of a middle aged Québécois.
Over 1945 to 1960 he was an illustrator for Le Samedi and Le Revue Populaire, and editorial cartoons and illustrations for Le Petit Journal. Over 1950 to 1965 he drew editorial cartoons and illustrations for the Montreal Star and Weekend Magazine. He also worked for advertising firms like McKim Agency.
From October 1951- September 1970 he drew “Séraphin” adapted from the radio and later TV series Les belles histories des pays d’en haut” by writer Claude-Henri Grignon, also published by Bulletin des Agriculteurs.
In 1963 he created “Les Canadiens” a bilingual strip for the Toronto Telegram. Its setting was New France.
He died in 2004.
WORK:
CARTOONIST:
BOOK GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:
Content biography &folio:
Drawn & Quarterly v. 5: August 2003: “Albert Chartier: A Retrospective On The Life and Work Of A Pioneer Quebecois Cartoonist”: 116-191.
BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:
Content strip & Cover book front:
Les aventures d’un Québécois typiique ONÉSIME: Trentiéme anniversaire d’un bon vieux comic de chez nous. Les Editions L’Aurore Inc., 1974.
Une piquante petite brunette. Les editions Les 400 coups, 2008.
Onésime: Les Meilleures Pages. Le Bulletin des agriculteurs/les Éditions Les 400 coups, 2011.
PERIODICAL TEXT ANTHOLOGY:
Content strip:
Weekend, 7-11, 1957, March 17: “Cascades Of Words”: 30.
Weekend, 9-16, 1959 April 18: “Taken To The Cleaners”: 34-35.
NEWSPAPER:
Content strip:
Toronto Telegram, circa 1963 -1964. “Les Canadiens”.
ILLUSTRATOR:
BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:
Content strip & Cover book front:
Séraphin. Writ., Claude-Henri Grignon. les Éditions Les 400 coups, 2010.
SOURCE:
Article book:
Les aventures d’un Québécois typiique ONÉSIME: Trentiéme anniversaire d’un bon vieux comic de chez nous. Les Editions L’Aurore Inc., 1974: “Présentation.” Car. & Writ., Albert Chartier.
Drawn & Quarterly v. 5: August 2003: “Albert Chartier: A Retrospective On The Life and Work Of A Pioneer Quebecois Cartoonist”: 116-191. Biography & Folio.
Une piquante petite brunette. Les editions Les 400 coups, 2008: “Ingénues.” Writ., Jimmy Beaulieu.
Le Quinzième Salon International de la Caricature/ The Fifteenth International Salon of Cartoons. Pavillon International de l’ Humour Terre des Hommes/International Pavilion of Humour Man and His World, 1978: “Quatre Pionniers de la Bande Dessinée Canadienne/ Four Canadian Strip Cartoon Pioneers”: 20.
The World Encyclopedia of Comics. Ed., Maurice Horn Chelsea House Publishers, 1978: “Chartier Albert (1912-…).” Writ., Maurice Horn: 166-167.