Quino, the creator of Mafalda, died

Graphic artist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, universally known as Quino , died at the age of 88 . He rose to fame for his comic strips and for his most widespread character globally: little Mafalda .

"Quino died. All the good people in the country and in the world will mourn him," said editor Daniel Divinsky, who was in charge of Ediciones La Flor

The son of Andalusian immigrants, Joaquín Salvador Lavado was born in the city of Mendoza on July 17 (although official records state that he was born on August 17). From his birth he was named Quino to distinguish him from his uncle Joaquín Tejón , painter and graphic designer.

At the age of thirteen he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts, but in 1949 he abandoned that career “tired of drawing amphoras and plasters.” Since then he began his career as a cartoon and humor cartoonist and at 18 he moved to Buenos Aires. 1954 he published his first strip in the weekly "This is".

In 1963, his first humor book appeared, “Mundo Quino” and in 1964 the magazine Primera Plana presented the Mafalda comic strip in society. The little girl with progressive ideas and her friends became a symbol of the 60s in Argentina and her fame reached the entire Ibero-American world.

Throughout his career, he received awards such as the Official Order of the Legion of Honor, the most important honor that the French government grants to a foreigner. In 2014 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in Spain and inaugurated the 40th International Book Fair of Buenos Aires.

In an extensive interview he gave to Página / 12 in 2004, Quino explained what his strips are about and why he kept drawing: "About the relationship between the weak and the powerful. That has always haunted me. That sense of powerlessness they have. the poor versus the rich, the errands versus the masters, I don't know, sometimes I think that I should stop drawing for a while, so as not to experience anguish or fear of repeating myself. But when I think that I'm going to open the newspaper and my drawings are not going to be there, it gives me more anguish and I keep drawing. He's like that stationmaster who retires, but comes back every day to see if the trains run on time. I can't imagine waiting for the trains to pass. Besides, in my profession there are no trains. "

Page Article / 12 09-30-20