French cartoonist Claire Bretécher dies at 79

Claire Bretécher, a pioneering French cartoonist known for her sharp social satire, died on February 10, 2020, at age 79. Her publisher announced the news. Bretécher was one of the few women to achieve prominence in the male-dominated comics world of the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a feminist icon. She created the iconic strips "Les Frustrés" (The Frustrated) and "Agrippine." Her work appeared in Pilote, Le Nouvel Observateur (where "Les Frustrés" debuted in 1973), and in Italy on Linus, admired by Umberto Eco. French intellectuals Roland Barthes and Pierre Bourdieu were fans; Barthes called her "the best sociologist" of his time. Her notable books include "Cellulite" (1981) and "Agrippine" (1988). A retrospective was held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2015.