Yvette Lapointe (19 August 1912 – 5 September 1994) was a designer, known as a pioneer of Quebec comics, who made a career in comics and illustration from 1932 to 1943, then retired from publishing. She remains the first Quebec female comic book author,[1] even though somewhat forgotten.[2]
Biography
Yvette Lapointe was born 19 August 1912 in Montreal.[3] In 1932, she launched herself into comics and illustration, drawing on the relations between men and women and everyday life in the periodical L'Illustration, where she contributed daily to the strip Pourquoi?.[4] A year later, she began her most famous series in the pages of La Patrie: Les Petits Espiègles, whose heroes are "two rascals", Réal and his sister Mimi Pistache. The series ran from May to August 1933.[3][4] Lapointe then returned to more adult content for Le Samedi[2] and La Presse.[3] At the same time, she was an illustrator and did advertising work.[1]
After her marriage in 1943, she ended her professional career and then raised four sons, all mathematicians. She died on 5 September 1994.[1]
Legacy
In 2017, Lapointe's works were exhibited at the Quebec Francophone Comics Festival.[1] In tribute to Lapointe's career, the Quebec Francophone Comics Festival gave the name Prix Yvette-Lapointe to a youth comic book prize.[5]
