Raoul Barré
| Raoul Barré | |
|---|---|
Raoul Barré
|
|
| Born |
January 29, 1874 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | May 21, 1932 (aged 58) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Nationality |
Canadian American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Raoul Barré (January 29, 1874 – May 21, 1932) was a Canadian and American cartoonist, animator of the silent film era, and artist.
Barré was born in Montreal, Quebec, the only artistic child (out of twelve) of an importer of communion wine. He studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, starting in 1891, and remained there for several years as a political cartoonist—he was a loud critic of the unjust trials of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. One of Barré's opponents in the war of words and cartoons was Émile Cohl, writing anonymously. On returning to Canada in 1898, he gave birth to the French Canadian comic strip. It was not until 1913 that Barré succeeded in syndicating a newspaper strip in the U.S—Noahzark Hotel, a Sunday strip which was distributed by the McClure Syndicate for 11 months. Barré elected not to take credit on the strip, but rather signed it VARB, his initials (Vitale Achille Raoul Barré).
Barré moved to New York City in the United States in 1903. In 1912, Barré saw an animated film that inspired him to go into the industry (perhaps Winsor McCay's "How a Mosquito Operates"). He picked Edison Studios to produce his cartoons and while visiting the studio, met Bill Nolan, a live-action shorts producer who became his business and artistic partner. The two worked together for a year putting out animated and live-action commercials for various companies (quite possibly the first ever use of animation for advertising). It was during this period that the two worked out a system for animating radically different from that practiced by anyone else at the time.
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