Kiraz is extremely well-known in France for his instantly recognisable style of drawings, especially his series of impossibly tall and thin women called ‘Les Parisiennes’. The Musée Carnavalet, the Paris museum about Paris, is holding an exhibition showing his large body of work.

They are tall. They are thin. They are sometimes completely brainless, sometimes wickedly satirical. They ‘Les Parisiennes’, a series of drawings by Kiraz, an egyptian-born artist whose work has graced the covers of Elle, Marie-Claire and the pages of Playboy (where the drawings are often quite saucy, in an innocent 1970s way). Created in the 1950s, they became better known in the 1960s. Paris Match loved them. Playboy still publishes them.

Kiraz was born in Cairo in 1923 and worked as a political satirist after the Second World War. However in 1959 he changed styles and tried to launch himself in higher circles, using his risqué touch to help create a buzz. 40 years later, the first major retrospective of his work includes 130 pieces including original drawings, some paintings that have never been seen, sketches, photographs, publicity posters and press clippings.

If you want to get an idea of the image of Parisian women, equal parts style and snobbery, go see!

« First he gets me used to the finer things in lfe, then the coward dumps me! »

« I see that you remembered that it’s my birthday today. You’ve put on clean pyjamas »

Here’s all the important information for the Kiraz exhibition at the Musée Carnavalet

When: 14th May – 21st September 2008
Where: Musée Carnavalet, 23 rue de Sévigné, Paris 3rd arrondissement. Métro Saint Paul (line 4) or Chemin Vert (line 8). Bus n°s 29, 69, 76 & 96
Opening hours: open every day except Mondays and public holidays from 10am – 6pm
Admission price: the site doesn’t say (sorry)
More info (in French): here

Bigger map here