Lluís Juste de Nin


Lluís Juste de Nin was a Spanish illustrator, cartoonist and fashion designer. He worked as creative director for the Spanish fashion label Armand Basi. His work was first published in the 1960s. His cartoons were used in the publications of the political opposition to Francisco Franco. In these publications, Juste de Nin signed his work, "El Zurdo". For many years, he was engaged in creating illustrations for articles by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán in Mundo Obrero.

Career

After the restoration of the Generalitat de Catalunya and ratification of the Spanish constitution of 1978, Juste de Nin was commissioned by the new Catalan Government to create a drawn character that, along with the texts of "Tísner", would form the basis of a campaign to normalise the Catalan language. The character he drew was La Norma. Through the 1980s, Juste de Nin contributed with a weekly page to the periodical magazine, Canigó in a series called Petant la xerrada which illustrated contemporary Catalan life. He signed these drawings, L’Esquerrà.
In 2006, Juste de Nin was commissioned to design the float for the "Three Kings Parade". The parade was dedicated to a "Year of the Book". On his float, a jubilant Don Quixote and Sancho stood surrounded by children holding giant crayons.
The characters rode on a large book illustrated with Rocinante’s head. Juste de Nin was the costume designer for the September 2008 world premiere of the opera, La Celestina at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. He was also a member of the Cercle Catalanista de l'Ateneu Barcelonès, of the Foundation Andreu Nin; a partner at Òmnium Cultural; and member of the Patronat of the National Museum of Art in Catalonia.

Selected works

In 2003, Juste de Nin received the Catalan presidents' Antoni Gaudi medal for creativity.
In 2010, he received an inaugural Nautilus prize at Comic City, Badalona, for his contribution to Catalan comics.