HERGÉ

HERGÉ TINTIN Unpublished signed original illustration, produced in 1943. Signed. India ink and watercolor on paper 13.4 × 16 cm (5.28 × 6.3 in.) A moving, dedicated drawing from 1943, probably intended for one of the three daughters of Carlo Speder (1898-1985), founder of the Théâtre Péruchet, the famous Belgian puppet theater founded in 1929, the same year Tintin was created. Even before the war, this theater enjoyed a great reputation, performing for royal children. In 1940, probably through the intermediary of Jacques Van Melkebeke, Carlo Speder met Hergé backstage at a play adapted from Tintin for the Théâtre des Galeries in Brussels, Le Mystère du diamant bleu, a Tintin adventure in India written by the ineffable "Van Melk", future editor-in-chief of the Journal Tintin. Hergé befriended Carlo Speder, who appeared at the launch of the Journal Tintin in 1946, his theater hosting the "Caravane Tintin". Speder was also called upon for Tintin's first feature film in 1946, The Crab with the Golden Claws, a film with puppets that he animated himself. Finally, one of Hergé's first assistants, Franz Jageneau (son of Hergé's clairvoyant Bertje Jagenau), became Speder's assistant and succeeded him, until 1985, as director of the Théâtre Péruchet, still in operation. One of Speder's pupils, André Moens, also made a name for himself during the war by creating the Théâtre de Farfadet, which brought the character of Spirou to life for the Front de l'Indépendance resistance network. What a story behind a simple drawing! Didier Pasamonik This dedication inevitably brings to mind the festive, text-free postcard projects Hergé submitted to Interpress in 1943, following on from the 25 snow cards already launched by the same company. Some of these were used in the 1950s for postcards exchanged for Tintin stamps. This one, obviously from the same period, could have been one of them. This color dedication is relatively rare: color is generally reserved for dedications in poetry notebooks. Gaétan Laloy