Louis Mourier, better known by the pseudonym Marix, was a French satirical draughtsman and press caricaturist active from the 1920s until the 1940s. He grew up in Perrecy-les-Forges in the Saône-et-Loire region of eastern central France. His origins were humble – his father, an artisan cabinetmaker, died when Louis was only nine years old, plunging the family into financial hardship. Louis left school to work as a carter, and later learned the rudiments of drawing from a village painter, going on to become a furniture restorer in Paris at the age of eighteen.

The first world war marked him deeply. Mobilised in August 1914, he was captured in September of that year and spent more than four years in five prisoner of war camps in Germany, secretly producing caricatures and scenes of camp life throughout his captivity. After liberation his drawings were published in 1919 in a booklet titled Derrière les barbelés (Behind the Barbed Wire), illustrating a text by Joë Belot. He later felt this did not accurately represent his experiences, and in 1932 published a more personal account of his POW experience, Les Chevaliers de la Crosse en l’Air (The Knights of the Cross Held Aloft).

His press career was always politically engaged. From the end of the first world war, Mourier published caricatures in left-wing militant publications. In 1924 he co-founded the satirical journal La Gueule Noire (The Black Mouth), for which he produced illustrations until 1937. A committed libertarian and pacifist, he also contributed to L’Humanité, Le Libertaire, and La Caserne.

The second world war brought his tragic end. During the Occupation, Mourier joined the Resistance, forging false papers to help those persecuted by the Nazis. He and his wife Joséphine were arrested at their Paris home on 22 February 1943. Joséphine disappeared at Ravensbrück in 1944, and Louis was transferred to Sachsenhausen on 26 November 1944, where he died on 25 February 1945. The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear, though he is believed to have been shot as Soviet forces approached.

A square in Perrecy-les-Forges bears his name, and the association L’Imagerie, organised by eight of his great-grand nieces and nephews, works to document and promote his legacy.

Similar artists

Paul-Émile Bécat – French illustrator of refined erotic fine editions.
Jean Berque – French interwar bibliophile illustrator of a similar sensual tone.
André Collot – French illustrator of refined erotic editions in the period.
André Dignimont – French interwar illustrator of Parisian low-life and erotic subjects.
Jean Dulac – French interwar bibliophile illustrator for the fine-press market.
Chas Laborde – French illustrator and caricaturist of lively Parisian street scenes.