From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Françoise Mouly
Françoise Mouly
Françoise Mouly postcard backs, publishing work by artists ranging from
Caran d’Ache to Mark Beyer, Spiegelman or Bruno
Born 1955 Richard. Starting in 1977, Mouly published and edited the
Paris, France
Streets of Soho and Tribeca Map and Guide, until she sold it
Nationality French; naturalized American in 1991.[2]
Area(s) Publisher, Editor, Designer, Artist, Colorist
RAW magazine
Notable RAW magazine
Main article: RAW (magazine)
works The New Yorker
Little Lit In July 1980, Mouly launched RAW, a large-format, luxuri-
Toon Books ously printed magazine of comics, graphics, and illustrat-
ed texts that she designed and co-edited with Spiegel-
Awards La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Chevalier des Arts
et Lettres, Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur man. Starting with the second RAW in December 1980,
each issue of the magazine included a chapter of Maus,
[TOON-Books.com Official website] which Spiegelman had just started. RAW gathered togeth-
er the work of American artists who had few other
Françoise Mouly (born 1955) is a Paris-born French artist venues to publish (Charles Burns, Gary Panter, Sue Coe,
and designer best known for her work with RAW, a show- Jerry Moriarty, Mark Beyer, Ben Katchor, Chris Ware,
case publication for cutting edge comic art, and as art ed- etc.), students of Spiegelman’s at the School of Visual
itor of The New Yorker, a position she has held since 1993. Arts (Drew Friedman, Mark Newgarden, Kaz, Jay Pulga),
In April 2008, the respected critic Jeet Heer wrote on his and European artists contacted by Mouly and Spiegelman
blog, Sans Everything: "Is there anyone in the cartooning on their trips to Europe (Javier Mariscal, Joost Swarte,
world who is more underrated than Françoise Mouly?" Ever Meulen, Jacques Tardi, Jacques Loustal, Lorenzo
and went on to give an extensive list of Mouly’s achieve- Mattotti, etc.) For the next eleven years, Mouly run the
ments.[1] publishing house with a yearly Soho Map as the financial
foundation for the business. She operated out of the Soho
Biography loft until 1987, when, pregnant with her first child, she
moved the RAW offices to a ground-floor space. On top
Early career of the yearly issue of RAW, Mouly published a series of
artists’ books, labeled RAW One-Shots, with work by Mo-
Mouly came to New York for the first time in 1974 as a riarty, Beyer, Panter, Coe and others.
19-year-old architectural student. She soon settled in a
loft in Soho and survived by doing a series of odd jobs: The New Yorker
selling cigarettes in street kiosks, actress in a Richard
Foreman play, model-maker in a Japanese architectural In February 1993, Tina Brown, a new editor who had just
agency, plumber, electrician, and assistant to a plastic been brought in to revitalize The New Yorker, published
surgeon (her father). In 1976, she met Art Spiegelman a cover by Spiegelman of a Hasidic Jew kissing a black
(who would only later become the author of Maus, in woman, an overt reference to the civil strife in the Crown
which she makes brief appearances) and discovered her Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. There was an out-
passion: graphic arts and book production. From pouring of protests about the breach of composure for
1972–1979 Mouly was a freelance colorist for Marvel the stately Eustace Tilley.[3] On the strength of what she
Comics, where she worked on such comics as Fantastic had seen at the RAW offices and the buzz surrounding
Four, Iron Man, Marvel Two-in-One, and Tomb of Dracula, as the cover, Brown brought Mouly to The New Yorker as the
well as doing individual fill-ins on numerous other titles. magazine’s art editor.
Mouly brought many of the RAW artists to The New
RAW Books Yorker (Charles Burns, R. Crumb, Chris Ware, Lorenzo
Mattotti, Marisca], Joost Swarte, Ever Meulen, David Maz-
In 1977, Mouly brought a printing press in her fourth- zucchelli, Richard McGuire, Jacques Loustal, Drew Fried-
floor walk-up and founded a small publishing house, man, Sue Coe, Ben Katchor and more) as well as devel-
RAW Books & Graphics. She printed and published "mail- oped and promoted new artists for the magazine (Barry
books," an innovative format of eight-page booklets with Blitt, Ian Falconer, Bruce McCall, Harry Bliss, Ana Juan,
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Françoise Mouly
Peter deSeve, Carter Goodrich, Bob Staake, Maira Kal- Toon Books
man, Anita Kunz and more). She welcomed the newer
Main article: Toon Books
generation of ’independent’ cartoonists (Adrian Tomine,
In April 2008, she launched Toon Books, a series of hard-
Dan Clowes, Ivan Brunetti, David Heatley, Seth and oth-
cover comics for children, with titles by Spiegelman, Ge-
ers) as well as renewed the magazine’s commitment to
offrey Hayes, Jay Lynch, Dean Haspiel and Eleanor Davis.
two great New Yorker artists who had become somewhat
Toon Books promoted itself as "the first high-quality
disengaged, Saul Steinberg and Jean-Jacques Sempé. She
comics designed for children ages four and up."[5] The
also included a few select artists from the fine art world
Toon Books website offers free online learning tools its
such as Komar and Melamid, Wayne Thiebaud, William
visitors.
Wegman and Kara Walker.
Mouly is responsible for all of The New Yorker ’s most
memorable recent covers: the September 11, 2001 black Personal life
on black cover she created with Art Spiegelman, the
Mouly appears in the 1988 documentary film Comic Book
"New Yorkistan" image by Maira Kalman and Rick
Confidential. She has received numerous awards from the
Meyerovitz, the "terrorist fist bump" cover by Barry Blitt
Society of Illustrators and other art organisations. In
in July 2008, the ’O" election cover by Bob Staake, the first
2001, she was made a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the
New Yorker cover drawn on an iPhone, by Jorge Colom-
French Minister of Culture. In 2011, she received France’s
bo, and, for the 85th anniversary of The New Yorker in
highest award, and was named Chevalier de la Legion
February 2010, a 4-part cover by Chris Ware, Adrian
d’Honneur by Alan Juppé, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Tomine, Dan Clowes and Ivan Brunetti with a fictional
She lives in downtown Manhattan with her husband Art
meta-narrative about the creation of Eustace Tilley by
Spiegelman, with whom she has two children, Nadja and
Rea Irvin.
Dashiell. Their older child, Nadja, is the author of Zig and
Responsible for over 800 covers over her past seven-
Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, which was published
teen years at The New Yorker, Ms. Mouly has in addition
by TOON Books in the Spring of 2010.
lectured on and written extensively about New Yorker
covers. In 2000, she published “Covering The New York-
er: Cutting-Edge Covers from a Literary Institution," to Bibliography
commemorate the magazine’s 75th anniversary. In 2005, Works edited and published by Mouly.
she curated an exhibit of New Yorker covers for the Nor-
man Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In Raw
the fall of 2007, she co-curated with Dodie Kazenjian an
Main article: RAW (magazine)
exhibit of paintings and drawings on the theme of Hansel
Volume 1
and Gretel at Gallery Met in Lincoln Center. The Ameri-
• #1 (July 1980) - "The Graphix Magazine of Postponed
can Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) chose two of Ms.
Suicides"
Mouly’s covers as among the “top 40 most highly rec-
• #2 (December 1980) - "The Graphix Magazine for
ognized, memorable, influential, compelling and iconic
Damned Intellectuals"
magazine covers of the past forty years,“ and for the first
• #3 (July 1981) - "The Graphix Magazine That Lost Its
three years of the ASME award, Ms. Mouly’s work re-
Faith in Nihilism"
ceived the honor of being ASME’s “best cover of the year”
• #4 (March 1982) - "The Graphix Magazine for Your
or "best news cover."
Bomb Shelter’s Coffee Table"
• #5 (March 1983) - "The Graphix Magazine of Abstract
Little Lit
Depressionism"
In 2000, Mouly founded the Raw Junior division, which • #6 (May 1984) - "The Graphix Magazine That
published Little Lit, anthologies of comics for children, Overestimates the Taste of the American Public"
under a joint imprint with Joanna Cotler books. The first • #7 (May 1985) - "The Torn-Again Graphix Magazine"
three volumes were large-size hardcover anthologies, • #8 (September 1986) - "The Graphic Aspirin for War
gathering the work of 15 to 20 contributors in each book, Fever"
such as Maurice Sendak, Jules Feiffer, William Joyce, Le- Volume 2
mony Snicket, Neil Gaiman, Gahan Wilson, Martin Han- • #1 (1989) - "Open Wounds from the Cutting Edge of
ford, Kaz, Barbara McClintock and more. The LITTLE LIT Commix"
books have been New York Times bestseller. In 2006, • #2 (1990) - "Required Reading for the Post-Literate"
Lit,
Mouly put together for Penguin Big Fat Little Lit a small- • #3 (1991) - "High Culture for Lowbrows"
er paperback gathering of most of the contents of the
previous books under a new cover by Spiegelman.[4] Raw one-shots and Raw Books
• Agony by Mark Beyer
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Françoise Mouly
• Big Baby by Charles Burns [2] http://www.indyworld.com/indy/ Indyworld
• Hard-Boiled Defective Stories by Charles Burns Interview with Mouly about early days
• X by Sue Coe [3] Shapiro, Edward S. (2006). Crown Heights: Blacks,
• Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay by Ben Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Riot. UPNE. pp. 211.
Katchor [4] http://www.indyworld.com/indy/spring_2004/
• Jack Survives by Jerry Moriarty hill_mouly/index.html Christian Hill interview
• Invasion of the Elvis Zombies by Gary Panter with Mouly in Indyworld about Little Lit
• Jimbo by Gary Panter [5] About Toon Books, ToonBooks.com. Accessed Nov.
• How to Commit Suicide in South Africa by Holly Metz 23, 2008.
and Sue Coe [6] Honors and Awards, Toon-Books.com
Covering The New Yorker External links
• Abbeville Press, 2000
• Toon Books
Raw Junior Books/Little Lit • Little Lit
• Françoise Mouly at the Comic Book DB
• Little Lit: Folklore & Fairy Tale Funnies, 2000 • Françoise Mouly at the Internet Movie Database
• Little Lit: Strange Stories for Strange Kids, 2001 • Publishers Weekly: Calvin Reid on Mouly
• Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night, 2003 • Interview with Mouly about the early days of RAW
• Big Fat Little Lit, 2006 magazine
• The New Yorker
TOON Books • Introduction to Covering The New Yorker
The two years since the launch in 2008 have seen the • Hansel and Gretel exhibit
publication of eleven titles, each of which received glow- • Reading Group Guide for The Toon Treasury of Classic
ing reviews and multiple awards, prizes, and distinc- Children’s Comics (Abrams, 2009)
tions.[6] Persondata
see TOON Books for more information
Name Mouly, Francoise
• Benny and Penny in Just Pretend (Geoffrey Hayes), 2008
• Otto’s Orange Day (Frank Cammuso & Jay Lynch), 2008 Alternative names
• Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons (Agnes Rosenstiehl), Short description
2008
Date of birth 1955
• Stinky (Eleanor Davis), 2008, a Geisel Honor book
• Mo & Jo Fighting Together Forever (Dean Haspiel & Jay Place of birth Paris, France
Lynch), 2008 Date of death
• Jack and the Box (Art Spiegelman), 2008 Place of death
• Luke on the Loose (Harry Bliss), 2009
• Benny and Penny: The Big No-No! (Geoffrey Hayes),
2009, the 2010 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner
• Little Mouse Gets Ready (Jeff Smith (cartoonist)), 2009,
a Geisel Honor book
• Benny and Penny in The Toy Breaker (Geoffrey Hayes),
2010
• Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, the first
science-based early reader comic by Nadja
Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler, 2010
Notes
[1] Heer, Jeet. "Françoise Mouly: Underappreciated
and Essential. Is there anyone in the cartooning
world who is more underrated than Françoise
Mouly?" Sans Everything (April 6, 2008). Accessed
Nov. 23, 2008.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fran%C3%A7oise_Mouly&oldid=457766241"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Françoise Mouly
Categories:
• 1955 births
• Living people
• Comic book publishers (people)
• Comics colorists
• Converts to Judaism
• French artists
• French cartoonists
• Female comics artists
• RAW (magazine)
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