Roland Topor

Roland Topor (January 7, 1938 – April 16, 1997), was a French illustrator, writer and sometime-actor whose Polish-Jewish roots were never far from the scene of his work. His drawings, which made him the most famous and revered illustrator in 1960s-70s France, are biting metaphorical images exquisitely rendered in pen and ink. It was Topor who inspired the likes of Brad Holland and Marshall Arisman in New York to take on darkly subjective political material. Topor was also highly active in the French avant-garde, having worked with Daniel Spoerri and Alejandro Jodorowsky, among others, and written the novel The Tenant (1964), which was made into the infamous film by Roman Polanski in 1976. With Rene Laloux, Topor made the animated feature film The Savage Planet.