UDERZO - Lot 52

UDERZO ALBERT UDERZO JEHAN PISTOLET In America, Albert René 2002 Original plate no. 164 (from the beginning of the series), published in La Libre Junior in 1956. Signed. This plate is reproduced in the exhibition catalog Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme, René Goscinny, au-delà du rire (co-publication mahJ - Hazan) in 2017-2018. India ink on paper 43.3 × 53 cm (17.05 × 20.87 in.) In 1951, Jean-Michel Charlier, who worked at World's Press, Georges Troisfontaines' Brussels press agency, and who supplied the Belloy scenarios to the young cartoonist Albert Uderzo, felt uncomfortable in the humoristic register and advised his cartoonist to call on a newcomer from America. His name was René Goscinny. "Is he Italian?" asks Uderzo. "No, he's of Polish origin," replies Charlier. Uderzo and Goscinny hit it off perfectly, and the relationship would not be broken until Goscinny's death in 1977. In the meantime, Uderzo and Goscinny got off to a rocky start, poorly paid by the agency that pre-published their work in the supplement to the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique: La Libre Junior. Uderzo's drawing was already perfectly perfected, but he had to move fast, at a rate of one page a week in addition to his other work, hence the sobriety of the backgrounds. Goscinny's genius was on full display, with situational comedy coupled with a wealth of puns, including in this box where the heroes repeat what is written in the recitative. Both Goscinny and Uderzo are having fun, and even though this is the last episode they will produce together - Goscinny is soon to be fired from World's, followed by Uderzo and Charlier, in a show of solidarity - they will see their characters through to the end of their adventure, which involves bringing lime leaves from the New World to the ailing king. Many of the gags and situations from these episodes would later find their way into the adventures of Oumpah-Pah and Asterix.