Cover cartoon for Grand Coeur #26, 1946.
François Brouyaux was a mid-20th century Belgian comic creator, who contributed mostly pantomime gag strips to the magazines Petits Belges and Grand Coeur in the 1940s.
Petits Belges
Nothing is known about the life of François Brouyaux. During the early 1940s, he was one of the comic artists working for Petits Belges, the Catholic children's magazine published by the Bonne Presse in Averbode. Starting on 27 July 1941, the magazine ran his pantomime humor strip 'Anny et Mady, Gamins Manqués', about two little girls who play tricks on people. Since they appeared in a magazine edited by Catholic monks, it never got too mean, and the two mischievous girls were always punisched for their antics.
'Anny et Mady, Gamins Manqués'.
During this period, the main artist in Petits Belges was Jijé with his 'Blondin et Cirage' comic. When he left for Spirou in late 1942, the magazine's cartoonist team consisted of Gervy, Renaat Demoen and François Brouyaux. On 19 September 1943, the magazine's further publication was forbidden by the Nazi oppressor. When it returned on the market after World War II, Brouyaux's 'Anny et Mady' strip returned in January 1945. While the threesome of Brouyaux, Gervy and Demoen returned in these post-war issues, they were gradually replaced and/or reinforced by other artists.
'Monsieur Zizifus' (Grand Coeur #5, 1946).
Grand Coeur
Between 1945 and 1946, Brouyaux appeared prominently in Grand Coeur, a short-lived comic magazine from Liège, created by the cartoonist Charles Gilbert and Étienne Lamarche, publisher of the newspaper La Gazette de Liège. Throughout most of the magazine's run, he contributed a great many pantomime gag strips, most of them starring the weird and unfortunate everyday escapades of 'Monsieur Zizifus', AKA 'Le Professeur'. In addition, he contributed gag strips without recurring characters, often showing people ending up in silly situations because they are too busy reading Grand Coeur. After a while, he changed from signing with "F. Brouyaux" to using the pen name "Saint-Bavard". On occasion, Grand Coeur ran similar gag strips signed with "A. Toussaint", but this seems to be another artist.
In issues #40 and #41 of 1946, Grand Coeur also ran Saint-Bavard's 3-page story 'La Sagesse du Cadi', showing a trick by a North-African qadi (judge) to confuse a thief.
Pantomime strip in Grand Coeur #6, 1946.
Identity
After 1946, no further activities by François Brouyaux are known. A large part of the material in Grand Coeur was provided by magazine editor Charles Gilbert and students from his graphic arts atelier in Liège. These can be recognized by the signatures that are associated with this studio, such as Chargil, Imagil, At-Gil, CAAG and Mac K.B. Since his body of work was limited to only two magazines, it is well possible that Brouyaux was also a student or member of Charles Gilbert's Atelier des Arts Graphiques.
Editorial/promotional strip for Grand Coeur #33, 1946.