Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
After yrs in drawer, rare Tintin painting fetches €3.2 million
PARIS: An original painting by Tintin creator Herge that for years was kept folded in a drawer was sold for a record 3.2 million euros (3.9 million dollars) at an online auction on Thursday, auction house Artcurial announced.
The painting, intended as a front cover for “The Blue Lotus” volume from 1936, easily beat the previous record for the sale of comic book art of 2.65 million euros, which was reached in 2014 for a double-page drawing by Herge.
The painting is the work of Belgian illustrator Georges Remi, better known by his nom de plume Herge, who was the author of the Tintin comic books. He died in 1983.
Herge submitted the painting for his editor as a proposed cover for the pre-World War Two Tintin album “The Blue Lotus,” according to the Artcurial auction house.
But Herge’s publisher rejected the painting, on the grounds that the colours chosen would make it too expensive to print.
A different Herge image was used for the cover, and the illustrator instead gave the rejected image as a gift for Jean-Louis Casterman, heir to the publishing house that published the Tintin books.
The painting was kept by Casterman, folded in a draw. Until his death, he declined offers to sell the work, saying he treasured it as a gift from Herge, according to Eric Leroy, comic book expert at Artcurial.
The image shows the intrepid young reporter Tintin, in oriental dress and flanked by his dog, Snowy, hiding in a vase from a rampant red dragon. In the story, Tintin and Snowy travel to China during the 1931 Japanese invasion to investigate and expose Japanese spy networks, drug-smuggling rings and other crimes.
The painting, in ink, watercolour and gouache, still bears the marks where it was folded. “It’s the most beautiful item that’s on the market in private hands,” said Leroy.
The volume, the fifth in the Tintin series, is considered a milestone in Herge’s development of the character with its more dynamic and realistic storylines alongside his meticulous artwork.
The previous world record for comic book art was set in 2014, when a double-page ink drawing that served as the inside cover for Tintin volumes published from 1937 to 1958 sold for 2.65 million euros.