The painter René Moreu, former Resistant and founder at the Liberation of the newspaper Vaillant , ancestor of Pif Gadget , died Saturday a few months from his 100th birthday, the newspaper L'Humanité announced on Monday .
Read also: Pif Gadget : the nostalgic reader who found the track of 200 Sapifs
A discreet but unavoidable figure in comics, he was editor-in-chief of Vaillant, a youth magazine created by the PCF in 1945 and in which some of the biggest names in comics began. René Moreu would have been a hundred years old in November 2020. Since the 1960s, he has devoted himself to illustration and painting.
Born in Nice on November 11, 1920, René Moreu trained as a printer and joined the Resistance in 1940. Although he was partially sighted following a serious retinal disease contracted in 1943, he created the character of Riquiqui the little bear in 1950. For the very young audience, he will also develop the character of Roudoudou. In 1983, he had published "Arnal, a life of Pif" , first biography of José Cabrero Arnal, Spanish republican deported to Mauthausen, creator in 1946 of the character of Pif the dog.
The naked eye - Let nature be painting
A first extensive monograph on his work should have been published by Actes Sud just before confinement. L'Oeil nu - Let nature be painting will finally be released on June 3. There are many reproductions of paintings-collages made of sand, flower stems, seeds, rose petals and many other treasures found in the countryside that were the essence of René Moreu's work.
In a press release Monday evening, President Emmanuel Macron praised "the commitment of the man and the talent of the artist" , addressing "his deep condolences to his family, his loved ones and all those whose childhood was was enlivened by his illustrations ” .
