Guillermo Mordillo: Legendary cartoonist dies in Mallorca
July 1, 2019
The Argentinian cartoonist, whose trademark humorous sketches featured people and animals with large bulbous noses, has died at the age of 86, his agent confirmed on Monday.
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Putting silence to paper: cartoon illustrator Mordillo dies at age 86
Argentinian cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo has passed away barely one month short of his 87th birthday. He's famous for drawing figures with enlarged noses getting trapped in everyday activities.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Guillermo Mordillo
Argentinian cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo y Melendez was born in Buenos Aires on August 4, 1932. A son of Spanish immigrants to Argentina, Mordillo took the decision to dedicate his life to drawing when he first saw Walt Disney's "Snow White" at the cinema. At age 14, he left school to follow his passion, and by the time he was 18, Mordillo was already successful at illustrating children's books.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Following his dream
While working for an advertising agency, Mordillo first came up with the idea of drawing what would later become his trademark figures. They were initially used in greeting cards but would later become part of popular culture.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Museo del Humor/G. Mordillo
What's in a nose?
Having spent some time living in Lima and New York, Mordillo moved to Paris in the early 1960s without knowing a word of French at the time. His drawings remained silent out of pure necessity. However, this also meant that his big-nosed characters could communicate their message throughout the world - the first of which was published in the French "Pelerin" magazine in 1966.
Image: picture-alliance/KPA Honorar & Belege
Lookalike characters
Mordillo's characters all have more in common than just big noses: they share similar hair styles, tend to have expressive eyes, but don't have ears or names . According to Mordillo, this deliberate oversimplification of the human figure is meant to be "symbolic of human nature."
Image: picture-alliance/KPA Honorar & Belege
Unlikely inspiration
Mordillo's signature big noses have followed him throughout his life. His inspiration: the depiction of the seven dwarves in Walt Disney's "Snow White."
In addition to drawing characters inspired by humans, Mordillo also features animals such as cows and giraffes in his work. He uses a mix of water colors, ink, pastel and acrylic paint in his works. He says that an illustration on average takes him about a week to complete.
Image: picture-alliance/KPA Honorar & Belege
Desperate times
Mordillo's characters often end up in desperate situations. A general theme in his work is that a figure is left alone in a hopeless situation. Mordillo infuses these moments with dignity, tenderness, hope and optimism - even though some of his images may come across as overly dramatic in trying to communicate the message that in the end, all will be well.
Image: picture-alliance/KPA Honorar & Belege
Colors, hues and shades
While the characters of his drawings lack color, the scenes surrounding them are typically quite lively and colorful. Yet there is a minimalist element to them: the idea behind every illustration is immediately communicated to the audience in a powerful simplicity of terms.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Museo del Humor/G. Mordillo
Pen on paper
Guillermo Mordillo attended the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2012 and, inspired by his surrounding, suddenly started drawing a giraffe, He stresses, however that a lot of work goes into perfecting each sketch: "None of my cartoons are spontaneous. Millimeter by millimeter I move forward, taking all the time I need."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Burgi
The world of Mordillo
Mordillo's images have become recognized throughout the world in calendars, posters, puzzles, stuffed animals and much more. However, despite this plethora of merchandise, Mordillo refuses to sell any of his original works. Those, apparently, are kept in a bank vault.
Image: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/GettyImages
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Following a report from the El Pais newspaper, it has been confirmed that lauded, award-winning cartoonist Guillermo Mordillo has passed away on the Spanish island of Mallorca, where he had a house for several decades.
"It is true, unfortunately. That's what the family told us," a spokesperson told the German Press Agency when confirming the passing of the one of the world's most beloved cartoonists.
Mordillo was born on August 4, 1932, the son of Spanish immigrants in Buenos Aires. Having lived in Lima and New York, where he worked as a Popeye film cartoonist for Paramount studios, the budding illustrator moved to Paris in the early 1960s and developed his signature minimalist style. Mordillo had also long been fascinated by the big noses seen in characters in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and incorporated this motif into his work.
A man of few words
Mordillo used absurdist humor to paint determined characters who often try to battle adversity. But since he knew no French, his protagonists did not speak and were unaccompanied by speech bubbles, a device that was prevalent throughout nearly all of his work.
His breakthrough came in the mid-late 1960s when his cartoons were published in international magazines such as Paris Match in France and Stern in Germany, among others. In the 1970s, he had become one of the most widely-published cartoonists in the world. Over the course of his career, he created over 2,000 drawings without words, with an average of 60 per year.
Mordillo was especially inspired by city landmarks, with his comic figures often placed alongside the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben in London and Red Square in Moscow. His work is also often themed around his favorite hobbies — football and animals.
In recent years, Mordillo — who was president of the International Association of Authors of Comics and Cartoons — published very few cartoons, while his last exhibition was in 1989 in Palma, Mallorca.
sb/ls (dpa, EFE)
From linguistic challenges to travel habits: Comics about German culture
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Oh, Germans just wanna have fun
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Sunday: A day of rest
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Safety first
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Individual desires
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Car nation
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Friendly fire
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Another brick in the wall
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Twisted methods of torture
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Do you speak Denglisch?
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Apocalypse now?
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Save the date!
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Above the lawn
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Absolute ban on night flights
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Not greedy, efficient!
Germans on vacation, especially those on flat-rate tours, are notorious for their extremely high proficiency in stacking up edibles on tiny breakfast and dinner plates. Some take the famous "battle of the buffet" a bit too seriously: elbows, knees and cutlery are wielded as weapons, implemented with the goal of claiming as much booty as possible.
Nail clippers come in handy for many things
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High fashion chic
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Unsubtle humor
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Spot on
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The German national anthem: Hm, what is that again?
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That's what happens when you spoil them
Everyone who has a dog knows the temptation, but maybe Germans are a bit weaker when it comes to their furry friends? The new masters of this household definitely know everything about the consequences of being too permissive...
Travel light
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Never too early to get things straight
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A perplexing language
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Stick to what's familiar
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Territorial pissing — Teutonic style
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Tendency to gripe
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Nudism faux-pas
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