Giuseppe Zaccaria (23 April 1930 – 25 August 1985), best known as Pino Zac, was an Italian illustrator, cartoonist and animator.

Biography

Born in

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Zac spent his childhood in

Pratola Peligna Pratola Peligna ( Abruzzese: ') is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of 2015, it has a population of 7,652 inhabitants. Geography Pratola Peligna is bordered by Popoli, Corfinio, Prezza, Rai ...

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

and eventually moved to Rome to study architecture. In 1951 he started his professional debut with the comic strip ''Gatto Filippo'', published in the newspaper ' until 1959. He later collaborated with a large number of European publications, including the Italian magazines ''

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

'' and ''Pioniere'', the French magazines ''

L'Écho des savanes ''L’Écho des Savanes'' is a Franco-Belgian comics magazine founded in May 1972 by Claire Bretécher, Marcel Gotlib and Nikita Mandryka. It featured the work of French and international authors and graphic artists in mature-oriented comics over ...

'' and ''

Le Canard enchaîné (; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism a ...

'', the British magazine ''Playtime'', the Polish magazine ''Spillky''. In 1977 he co-founded the satirical magazine ''

Il Male ''Il Male'' (meaning ''Evil'' in English) was an Italian satirical magazine published in Rome, Italy, between 1978 and 1982. History and profile ''Il Male'' was first published in February 1978 as a biweekly tabloid format political satire magaz ...

'', of which he also realized several covers.

Controversy

Zac's profane, irreverent, sometimes brutal satire caused him several complaints and legal problems. Among his favorite targets, Zac's often focused on clergymen's corruption and sexual repression. Among his works, he realized four books targeting the Catholic Church and the petty-bourgeois Italian mentality. In 2002,

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winner

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. I ...

remembered him as "the first cartoonist in the world to draw the Pope without clothes".

Film career

Zac was also active as a director and screenwriter of animation films. He realized about 20 short films and the experimental feature film ''The Nonexistent Knight'', based on the novel with the same name by

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

. Zac died of a stroke in his house in 1985. In 2015, a documentary film about Zac, ''Zac - I fiori del Male'' by Massimo Denaro, was screened out of competition at the 72nd edition of the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

Bibliography

* Pino Zac, Les dessous du Vatican, Paris, ''Satirix'', Nr 17, February 1973. * Pino Zac, La Vérité toute nue, Paris, ''Satirix'', Nr 23, September 1973.

References

External links

*
Pino Zac
at ''

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zac, Pino 1930 births 1985 deaths People from Trapani Italian comics artists Italian comics writers Italian satirists Italian animators Italian film directors Italian animated film directors Italian magazine editors People of Apulian descent People from Abruzzo Italian cartoonists