The rise of print and the circulation of ideas

In Quebec, around 1900, satirical publications and magazines devoted to literature and ideas began to circulate more widely. As part of this movement, Barré contributed to publications belonging to the liberal school of thought. He drew striking realistic scenes of current events and embellished the texts with ornamental motifs that bore the influence of Art Nouveau. He published En roulant ma boule (1901), a collection of his humorous illustrations.

Advances in printing made it possible to publish high-quality illustrated magazines, and the large-circulation press took off. Barré lent his drawing talents to Le Monde illustré and established himself as a pioneer of Quebecois comic strips in La Presse in 1902.

In 1913, his pseudonym VARB (an acronym formed from the initials of his full name, Vital Achille Raoul Barré) appeared in a comic strip, Noahzark Hôtel, distributed by McLure Syndicate, and published the same year under the title À l'hôtel du père Noé in La Patrie. In 1930, back in Montreal, Barré published cartoons under the pseudonym "É. Paulette" in Le Taureau, a satirical publication supporting the mayoral candidacy of his son-in-law, Gaspard Fauteux, against Camillien Houde and his associates with their own satirical paper, Le Goglu, edited by Adrian Arcand. The outré, curvaceous style is clearly influenced by comic strips and American cartoons.