Philippe Labarthe, pseudonym Ylipe (9 January 1936 – 8 March 2003) was a French

humorist A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...

, artist, and writer. He was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

and studied Fine Arts there before moving to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to work as a cartoonist, painter and

aphorist An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by trad ...

. He signed his cartoons , using the Greek letter

phi Phi (; uppercase Φ, lowercase φ or ϕ; grc, ϕεῖ ''pheî'' ; Modern Greek: ''fi'' ) is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In Archaic and Classical Greek (c. 9th century BC to 4th century BC), it represented an aspirated voicele ...

(φ) in place of the first three letters of his forename.

Maurice Nadeau Maurice Nadeau (21 May 1911 – 16 June 2013) was a French teacher, writer, literary critic, and editor. He was born in Paris. He was the father of the actress Claire Nadeau and the film director Gilles Nadeau. Biography Orphaned during the ...

misread the Greek φ as a Latin y and the name ''Ylipe'' stuck. In the 1960s he contributed to ''Arts'', ''

L'Express ''L'Express'' () is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''Réussir''. History ...

'', and ''Lettres nouvelles'', and signed the

Manifesto of the 121 The Manifesto of the 121 (french: Manifeste des 121, full title: ''Déclaration sur le droit à l’insoumission dans la guerre d’Algérie'' or ''Declaration on the right of insubordination in the Algerian War'') was an open letter signed by 121 i ...

opposing the use of

torture during the Algerian War Elements of both sides in the Algerian War—the French Armed Forces and the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN)—used deliberate torture during that conflict (1954–1962), creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naque ...

. He later exhibited paintings in New York and Paris under his own name, with backing from

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

and

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

. In 2000, a back injury prevented him painting and he returned to writing aphorisms. His writing and painting often exhibit black humour;

Dominique Noguez Dominique Noguez, (12 September 1942 – 15 March 2019) was a French writer. He won the Prix Femina in 1997, for ''Amour noir''. He taught the history of film at the Sorbonne. He was an early defender of Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq ...

described him as a "sparkling misanthrope" (french: misanthrope étincelant). He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, having refused medical treatment.

Bibliography

;Books: * * * * * * ;Periodicals: *

References

External links

Ylipe quotations
citation-du-jour.fr Aphorists French humorists French cartoonists 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French painters French male painters Writers from Bordeaux Deaths from lung cancer in France 1936 births 2003 deaths {{Cartoonist-stub