'La Vie en Images', about the end of the seasonal holidays (La Patrie du Dimanche, 7 January 1945).
Jacques Gagnier was a mid-20th century French-Canadian illustrator and cartoonist, whose illustrations appeared in several Québec magazines, newspapers and books. He was house cartoonist and caricaturist for the newspapers La Patrie (1940-1947) and Le Devoir (1961-1967), and responsible for the slice-of-life comic series 'La Vie en Images' (1944-1947) in La Patrie's Sunday paper.
Early life and career
Jacques Gagnier was born in 1917 in Montréal into a family of musicians. His father was a horn player in the Montréal symphony orchestra. Gagnier studied at the École Supérieure Saint-Viateur and then at the École des Beaux-Arts ("School of Fine Arts") in Montréal. He also studied painting for three years. Gagnier began his career as an illustrator and caricaturist in 1935 in Quartier Latin, the student magazine of the University of Montréal.
Promo strip with Fridolin by Jacques Gagnier (1939).
Fridolin
Between 1939 and 1942, Gagnier made cartoons and caricatures for the magazine Radiomonde. A regular character he drew in cartoons, illustrations and comic strips was 'Fridolin', Gratien Gélinas' stage persona of a street-smart teenager from Montréal, dressed in tri-color Canadiens hockey jersey, short trousers with suspenders and knee socks. After appearing as similar characters in monologues and a 1937 film, Gélinas finetuned the character in the radio show 'Le Carrousel de la Gaieté'. Between 1938 and 1946, Grélinas performed his 'Fridolinons' comedy stage shows, boosting the character to great popularity. In addition to drawing the comic strip, Jacques Gagnier also designed posters for these shows.
La Vie en Images
Jacques Gagnier's association with the newspaper La Patrie began in 1940. His initial contributions were illustrations and caricatures, but he was promoted to make a weekly humorous cartoon chronicle when house caricaturist Arthur LeMay suddenly passed away in January 1944. Filling the void, Gagnier's current affairs cartoon collage series 'La Vie en Images' was first printed in La Patrie's pages on 6 February 1944. Each episode commented on everyday situations, which could range from news stories about politics, elections, war, economy and social policies, as well as fashion, culture, the holiday season and work in a more slice-of-life comedy style. The feature had no real characters, just comedic observations through the viewpoint of the common man. Gagnier drew the series until 1947, when he left La Patrie. He passed the pencil to Paul Leduc, who had already contributed as a writer and artist on the cartoon series. Several installments were collected in the book 'La Plume au Vent', which was published in 1946 by Studio Lany. It was partially reprinted in 2002 as 'Retour de Vacances' by La Pastèque.
L'Homme Merveilleux Qui Fonde L'Oratoire: Le Frère André' (1952).
Post-World War II illustration career
By 1945, the artist founded his own Studio Jacques Gagnier, which was expanded in 1965 to Studio Gagnier, Fleury & Associés. Through this commercial art studio, he made graphic designs for books by poet and political activist Félix Leclerc and journalist/politician Jacques Hébert, as well as advertisements for Dow beer and the radio station CKAC. Gagnier made illustrations for the family magazine La Revue Populaire (starting in 1945) and the farmers' magazine Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs (starting in 1955), and between 1961 and 1967 he served as a caricaturist for the newspaper Le Devoir.
Starting in June 1952, Gagnier and writer Marcel Plamondon appeared in the magazine L'Oratoire with the Roman Catholic propaganda comic 'Le Frère André', about "Brother André" (Alfred Bessette), a doorkeeper and sacristan at Notre-Dame College in Montreal, known for his deep faith and humility. Three decades later, between 26 November 1989 and 28 January 1990, the life of Frère André was adapted into a comic strip again for the newspaper La Presse, scripted by Toufik Ehm and drawn by Zoran Vanjaka.
Title page of 'The Children's Book of the Saguenay'.
Gagnier additionally made regular illustrations for nationalist and educational children's books by Leonard L. Knott, such as 'The Children's Book of the Saguenay' (1945), 'The Children's Guide to Montreal' (1955), 'The Children's Guide to Calgary' and 'The Children's Book of Roads' (1952). In a more realistic drawing style, Gagnier made the illustrations for 'Le Frère André' (Fides, 1955), a picture book by Marcel Plamondon about the founder of Montreal's Saint Joseph's Oratory basilica.
Later life and death
Jacques Gagnier devoted his spare time to making (watercolor) paintings, which often depicted downtown Montréal. He won the third prize at the first National Festival of Caricature in 1963. Jacques Gagnier died in Montréal in December 1978.
Gagnier's advertisements for Dow beer presented someone urgently looking for a guy called Jos, who is then seen enjoying his beer (and therefore cannot be disturbed).