Mich (Michel Liebeaux)
French, 1881-1923
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Jean-Marie Michel Liébeaux dit Mich, born in Périgueux on July 3, 1881 and died in Algiers on July 2, 1923, was a French caricaturist, poster artist and advertising cartoonist who enjoyed some success in the early 20th century and again in the 1920s.
Born in Périgueux in 1881, Michel Liebeaux studied painting in Nantes. An avid horseman, he did his military service in the cavalry.
A pupil of the painter Chaudron, he began by publishing small local satires. In 1904, he moved to Paris, where his drawings were inspired by the style of Sem, also born in Périgueux.
He became a poster artist and advertising designer under the name Mich, working for a number of brands, mainly in the bicycle and automobile industries: in addition to the poster for the Chanteclair embrocation (1910), he is the father of the pen man for Onoto and the grinder accompanied by his dog for Hutchinson tires. He designed several posters for major automakers, in particular Citroën.
In 1907, he published a new album entitled À l'automobile, featuring portraits of prominent personalities such as Louis Vuitton and Camille Jenatzy. He also contributed to the periodicals L'Écho de Paris, Fantasio and La Vie parisienne.
In 1912, he exhibited fifty drawings of famous sportsmen at the Salon des humoristes. After 1918, he became a cartoonist for the leading sports daily of the day, L'Auto.
Liébaux died in La Jaille-Yvon, Maine-et-Loire, in 1923.
