Vijay Narain Seth (10 March 1944 – 26 June 2014), pen name Vins, was an Indian cartoonist and illustrator.
Career
Vins graduated from the Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts, Mumbai, in 1968. While still a student, he went across to the
Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...
from Sir J. J. School of ArArt all most next door to meet and watch cartoonist
Mario Miranda
Mário João Carlos do Rosário de Brito Miranda (2 May 1926 – 11 December 2011), popularly known as Mario Miranda or Mario de Miranda, was an Indian cartoonist and painter based in Loutolim in the Indian state of Goa.
Miranda had been a ...
(whom he considered a mentor) at work. He also started freelancing as a cartoonist for ''Caravan'' and ''Himmat'' magazines while a student.
He was a political cartoonist for the news magazine ''Himmat'' weekly from 1965 to 1981, contributing the pocket cartoon ''Chalta Hai'' weekly, and from 1969 adding two other cartoons with national and international comment.
Later he started to freelance, doing cartoons on other themes such as science, computers, business, and social issues. He was the first Indian contributing cartoonist for the Indian edition of ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
'' in 1976 when Rahul Singh was its chief editor. Subsequently, he was a freelance cartoonist for the business magazines ''Business India'' and ''Business World''
and the
Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...
group's business publications. He also contributed to publications such as ''Science Today'', a ''Times of India'' publication (1971–1984) and the Swiss satirical weekly ''
Nebelspalter
The ''Nebelspalter'' is a Swiss satirical magazine, which also has a political orientation in its online platform. It was founded in 1875 by Jean Nötzli of Zurich as an "''illustrated humorous political weekly''." The magazine was modelled on ...
''.
From 1978–1982, he was requested to contribute cartoons to a fortnightly, ''Treffpunkt'', (editor Heidi Rudolf, published in Zurich, Switzerland 1978–1987). His work appears in ''The Penguin Book of Indian cartoons'' (1988). His cartoons have been exhibited in Hungary, Belgium, France, Portugal, Israel, Korea, and Japan (1998).
21 of his satirical cartoons are now part of the online cartoon museum of Aydin Dogan Wakfi in Istanbul, Turkey.
Travels
Vins travelled extensively in Europe and met several internationally renowned graphic artists - such as the French cartoonist
Andre Francois - whom he counted as influences.
He has participated in many international cartoon festivals and exhibited in Europe in the 1990s.
Collections
His cartoons have been made part of the permanent collection at the International Cartoon Museum and the
Karikatur & Cartoon Museum, Basel in Switzerland.
Awards
*FECO Edinburgh International Cartoon Festival - 5th prize winner in 1990
*Swiss Coalition of Development Organizations, Berne, Switzerland - the first prize winner at the international cartoon in 1996
*Taejon International Cartoon Institute, Taejon City, Korea competition - he was the fifth prize winner in 1997
Bibliography
*Vins (Vijay N. Seth),
Chalta Hai'. Bombay: Miss Kalpana Sharma on behalf of Himmat Publications Trust, 1973.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vins
1944 births
2014 deaths
Indian cartoonists