Siné (Maurice Sinet)

Maurice Sinet was a French political cartoonist, known professionally as Siné. He studied drawing and graphic arts while earning a living as a cabaret singer. In 1952, he had his first drawing published, in France Dimanche. Three years later, he received the Prix de l’Humour Noir for his collection Complainte sans Paroles. In this period, he also began working for L’Express as a political cartoonist. His anti-colonialism, which he expressed in his cartoons, caused controversy during the Algerian War. In 1962 Siné left L’Express and published a book of his work called Siné Massacre. In 1968, he launched L’Enragé, a satirical journal. His work was controversial for its anarchism, anti-capitalism, and anti-clericalism. Siné himself became controversial because of his statement that he was an anti-Semite, in 1982. He also worked for the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and in 2008 faced charges of ‘inciting racial hatred’ for a column he wrote and was fired after he refused to apologise. He then founded his own weekly satirical magazine called Sine Hebdo. On 5 may 2016, he died after undergoing surgery at a hospital in Paris, aged 87.