Maurice Sinet, who used the pseudonym Siné, was a French cartoonist and caricaturist. He was born in Paris in 1928. After a training as a typographer at the École Estienne, he was so impressed by his first sight of the work of Steinberg that he immediately began drawing cartoons himself.
In May 1968, Siné co-founded the satirical magazine L'Enragé with Jean-Jacques Pauvert and cartoonists like Georges Wolinski, while also contributing to Action. He had his own section in Charlie Hebdo, called 'Siné sème sa zone', from 1981.
Siné's anarchistic and anti-colonial cartoons have caused controversy on several occasions during his career, especially during the Algerian war. He was fired from Charlie-Hebdo in 2008, following a anti-Semitic cartoon on Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, the wife of Jean Sarkozy. In August of 2008 he announced his own satirical weekly, called Siné Hebdo, that he launched with his wife Catherine Sinet and about 15 contributors. The publication ran until April 2010, but was continued as Siné Mensuel in September 2011. Siné has additionally made many drawings for books about jazz music, as well as CD covers. Siné passed away on 5 May 2016, after undergoing lung surgery.
Text (c) Lambiek
