At a special auction at Artcurial in Paris, an important body of private correspondence by Tintin creator Hergé was auctioned off over the weekend. The material had been put up for sale by Georges Rémi, a nephew of the late Belgian cartoonist, and consisted of photos, sketches and letters between Hergé and Germaine Kieckens (his first wife), E.P. Jacobs (Blake and Mortimer creator and long-time member of the Studio Hergé) and Evany (Eugène van Nijverseel), who continued Totor after Hergé devoted himself entirely to Tintin and his other work for Le Petit Vingtième.
Even though Rémi admits at having qualms about putting up this material, he wants to leave the past behind. The Belgian daily De Morgen reported that Moulinsart, the current owners of Hergé’s legacy, will not be bidding for the material, because, even though it’s doubtlessly interesting for academics and specialists, it’s not supposed to be of use for the Hergé museum, which is currently being built in the city of Louvain-la-Neuve.
(Edgar P. Jacobs, Jacques Van Melkebeke and Hergé, pic borrowed from the E.P. Jacobs 2004 website)
The collection of letters and photographs was sold for the princely sum of 90,000 Euros to a bidder by telephone. Quite a lot of money, especially considering that originally the lot had been valued at 15,000 Euros.The lot was part of a comics-themed auction, which included some thousand other items, such as sketches by François Walthéry, Vuillemin, Tillieux, Uderzo, Jijé, Lambil and Enki Bilal, and special editions by Jacobs and Hergé.
Thu, Nov 27, 2008
Comics and cartoons, From our Continental Correspondent