Tintin: Herge's Masterpiece by Rizzoli International Publications

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

The Adventures of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets – 1930 Page 25 of the book (Page on left, detail)

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Page on left: Tintin in the Land of the Soviets – 1930 Page 138 of the book

Les aventures de Tintin, reporter chez les Soviets – 1930 (The Adventures of Tintin, Reporter in the Soviet Union) Design for unpublished cover

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Cigars of the Pharaoh – 1934 Drawing for frame from page 13 of the black and white edition

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Photography Illustration destined for the cover of Le Petit Vingtième, June 27, 1935

The Blue Lotus – 1936 Illustration for the cover of the black and white edition of the book

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

The Shooting Star – 1942 Colour proofs of pages 51-52 of the book

Page on left: The Crab with the Golden Claws – 1941 Colouring of the first full-page plate integrated into the black and white edition of the book

Subsequent double page spread: The Secret of the Unicorn – 1943 Frame from page 56 of the book

1 – GEORGES REMI, ALIAS “HERGÉ” : A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Did you say Art? That The Adventures of Tintin constitute a work of art, and that consequently Hergé was a great ar tist, is no longer doubted by the vast majority and especially not by Tintinophiles. But such an affirmation calls for clarification… What is a work of art? When is it art? A satisfactory answer has several elements.

First of all, there is art when a production

As for Tintin, there is no problem: the char-

But is what is costly ipso facto art? Most cer-

of signs (whether plastic, sound or literary)

acter, his exploits and his world is now being

tainly not! But it is true that when an object

upsets the outlook of a particular epoch.

followed avidly by a sixth generation of

gains collective admiration, even devotion,

Marcel Duchamp remarked: “A work that

readers. Hergé’s books have been published

it achieves a kind of artistic status, accom-

does not unsettle is not worth the effort.”

in millions of copies throughout the world.

panied by an added value. All sorts of abuse

It is true that Hergé’s work did not exactly

They have been translated into more than 80

are possible here, but what is one to do? Art

disturb the collective vision of the 1930’s.

languages and dialects, and the number is

is not something pure, disengaged from

Even bourgeois and reactionary circles took

rising.The principal characteristic of a work

human contradictions. No absolute truth

it up immediately. However, the strip car-

of art is to open up the infinite (the per-

prevails. As for Hergé, he never pushed up

toon, whereTintin was incarnate, did not fail

petual present) with a product of a precise

the market value of his original pages. Some-

to rankle with aesthetes loyal to traditional

date and location. Tintin is infinite.

times he gave them away, according them

painting and classical literature, as much

There is also art where a work is able to offer

no particular prestige. It was something that

then as for some still today… It was Tintin’s

a double reading: the brush strokes of Van

happened progressively as his recognition

medium that was revolutionary, since writ-

Gogh and the wheat fields he depicted.

became lasting. Finally, the critical fortune

ten words were inserted at the core of the

One would not think that Hergé ranks with

of Hergé’s work is also infinite. There are

narrative images, which proceeded by leaps

such a prestigious category of artists. How-

hundreds of works by philosophers, soci-

and bounds.

ever, exhibitions of his original work and

ologists, essayists and other theoreticians

Then there is art (and not just the effect of

sales at public auction have proved quite

fascinated by Tintin. As for Hergé, he would

fashion) where the sensory and psycholog-

the contrary: Hergé’s drawing synchro-

be astonished at all the research that shows

ical shock generated by a work transcends

nized with the content of the image makes

the extraordinary symbiosis between the

history. Cézanne was shocking in 1900,

a double reading possible. One can enjoy

artist and his work.

while in 2014 he is enchanting.

a cover of Le Petit Vingtième as a master drawing. The phenomenon is fairly recent,

Page on left: Tintin in America – 1932 Illustration destined for the cover of the black and white edition

but it is significant and the dizzying prices achieved for original drawings by Hergé prove the point.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Art of Drawing, the Clear Line A sentence of Hergé’s, addressed to a journalist in 1942: “Careful, my drawing is cerebral!” is comparable with Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated “Painting is a matter of the mind.”

DRAWING AND THE MIND Drawing is an artistic activity that has de-

of the mind.” It was not about a dash of

retained only “decisive lines”, ones which

clined during the decades leading to our

manual virtuosity, serving the narrative, an

best embodied movement. Thus the line of

modernity. The ready-made works of Du-

ancillary stroke contributing to simple re-

his drawing developed from baroque abun-

champ, the materials of the minimalists,

alism. Hergé was right to raise the cerebral

dance and almost illegible agitation to an art

Warhol’s silk screen prints, the works of

quality of his drawing. In effect, the frames

of clear movement. The brain allows the eye

conceptual artists, and even great abstract

of the strip cartoon are animated by the

and the hand to combine and draw move-

painters such as Malevich or Mondrian dis-

human hand or by a motor function simi-

ment without any loss of dynamism of the

courage the art of drawing inherited from

lar to writing. This drawing is permanently

original idea. Hergé often recalled the

the Old Masters. A great contemporary

connected with the brain. Drawing is syn-

saying of Eugène Delacroix that “a good

draughtsman like David Hockney was con-

chronizing the brain, eye and hand: one

draughtsman should be able to sketch a man

sidered reactionary by some in 1970’s and

process for three organs. In his pencil draw-

in the time it takes for him to fall from

1980’s. Drawing that required knowledge

ings, he allows free rein to his hand and

a roof.”

of realism sought refuge in the world of

his chaotic motor function. Sometimes, he

the strip cartoon. But it does it an injustice

admitted, he pierced the paper trying to

to categorise it as artisan or academic tech-

emphasise certain lines. But the subsequent

nique. A sentence of Hergé’s, addressed to

working over by tracing and with ink,

a journalist in 1942: “Careful, my drawing

transformed this turbulence to a new level

is cerebral!” is comparable with Leonardo

of clarity and legibility. The eye clarifies,

da Vinci’s celebrated “Painting is a matter

the brain chooses. Hergé specified that he

Page on left: The Calculus Affair – 1956 Detail of preparatory drawing for page 19 of the book