WILL - Lot 121

WILL Le Jardin des désirs, Dupuis 1988 Original illustration for a silkscreen print, published in Mirages by Daniel Maghen in 2017. Signed. Graphite on paper 19.9 × 26.7 cm (7.83 × 10.51 in.) Since 1950, Will had been one of the pillars of the Dupuis publishing house, lining up pages of Tif & Tondu with metronome regularity, sometimes lending his elegant line to the other stars of the house: Franquin, Peyo, Walthéry... But at the turn of the 1980s, the wave of adult comics hit the Marcinelle weekly. The emphasis shifted from character-driven series to "one-shots", the precursors of graphic novels. Dupuis reacted by creating the "Aire Libre" collection, which welcomed Cosey, Hermann and others under the impetus of Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Vandooren. Will is one of the first authors to be called upon for this album, which is the first in the "Trilogie avec dames" series, where the Belgian artist can linger over the graceful curves of ravishing creatures. This research page for the cover illustrates the spirit perfectly.