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Franquin’s plate had been produced for the cover of the 49th album of the Journal de Spirou in April 1954.
Artcurial Twitter account
A plate by Belgian author André Franquin, entitled “La pirogue”, went up for auction at 337,600 euros (some 358,540 francs) on Saturday in Paris. This “world record”, however, remained below its estimate, announced the house Artcurial in a statement.
Estimated between 350,000 and 450,000 euros, this drawing (37.5 cm x 28.5 cm) in Indian ink was made for the cover of the 49th album of the Journal de Spirou in April 1954. You can glimpse the Marsupilami, this enigmatic and mischievous animal from the imagination of Franquin, hanging on a liana, spying on Spirou and Fantasio who set off to find him on a dugout canoe in the heart of the virgin forest of Palombie.
World record
This board, which “broke a new world record at auction for a board by Franquin”, was the highlight of this session devoted to big names in comics, with more than 300 lots on offer. The sale totaled 1.4 million euros (costs included).
Among these lots, a poetic four-hand board imagined by Franquin and Gotlib and drawn by Franquin changed hands to 117,000 euros, beyond its estimate. This drawing is taken from Tome 1 of Idées Noires, an album of black humor and social satire (1981).
Tintin in Prague
An illustration (22 X 22 cm) signed Hergé du Scepter d’Ottokar, eighth album of Tintin’s adventures, was sold for 306,600 euros. Estimated between 250,000 and 350,000 euros, it shows Tintin on his arrival in Prague, stumbling out of the plane and barely catching himself with the beard of the mysterious Doctor Halambique, marking the beginning of the tumultuous adventures of the young detective in the kingdom of the Black Pelican.
Another drawing by Hergé Studios, “The Black Island”, created the surprise, the hammer falling to 39,000 euros, or 39 times its estimate.
“Is there a doctor in the room?”
A colorful illustration (37 x 55 cm) of Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper by the Belgian Morris, doubled its estimate to 10,700 euros, while the famous French cartoon by Jean-Jacques Sempé “Is there a doctor in the room? ” on the dangers of the acting profession (1964), was acquired for 18,200 euros.
The sale also highlighted the cosmic universe of Valérian by Jean-Claude Mézières, whose gouache and Indian ink for the cover of “L’orphelin des astres” was sold for 45,500 euros.
On the other hand, a gouache by Albert Uderzo produced for the cover of the coloring album Punch, published in 1966, did not find a taker.
(ATS / NXP)
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