This article is about the Argentine writer. For other uses, seeCopi (disambiguation).
Raúl Damonte Botana
Born
November 20, 1939
Buenos Aires
Died
December 14, 1987
Paris
Nationality
Argentine
Occupation(s)
Writer, Cartoonist, Playwright
Notable work
La Femme assise (The Sitting Woman)
Copi and Susana Giménez
Raúl Damonte Botana (November 20, 1939 – December 14, 1987), better known by the nom de plumeCopi (French:[kɔpi]; from "copito de nieve", Spanish for "little snowflake"), was anArgentine writer, cartoonist, and playwright who spent most of his career inParis.
Damonte spent most of his youth inMontevideo. His maternal grandfather was the journalistNatalio Félix Botana and his father was the journalistRaúl Damonte Taborda, an antiperonistRadical politician and director of the journalTribuna Popular. Raúl showed an early talent for drawing and, from his adolescence, contributed caricatures to his father's publication and to the satirical magazineTía Vicenta.
His father's political activities forced the family into exile inUruguay,Haiti, and laterNew York City. He finally settled in Paris, where he embarked on a career as a cartoonist for such newspapers asLe Nouvel Observateur. His most notable character during this period wasLa Femme assise, The Sitting Woman.
He was a member ofTse, an association of Franco-Argentine artists with whom in 1969 he staged a biographical play aboutEva Perón. His theatrical works, influenced bySamuel Beckett, are characterized by the failure of characters to communicate.
Un ángel para la señora Lisca, Buenos Aires, directed by Copi, 1962.
Sainte Geneviève dans sa baignoire, Le Bilboquet, directed byJorge Lavelli, 1966.
L'alligator, le thé, International festival of UNEF, directed byJérome Savary, 1966.
La journée d'une rêveuse, Theater of Lutèce, directed by Jorge Lavelli, 1968.
Eva Perón, Theater of l'Épée-de-Bois, directed by Alfredo Arias, 1970.
L'homosexuel ou la difficulté de s'exprimer, City University Theater, directed by Jorge Lavelli, 1971. Spanish title:El homosexual, o la dificultad de expresarse.
Les quatre jumelles, Le Palace, directed by Jorge Lavelli, 1973.
