Comics & Illustration
Nine Works of the Ninth Art
Sale on Thursday, February 8
Paris – Tajan is pleased to announce its Comics & Illustration sale, to be held on February 8 at 2:30 pm under the hammer of Maître Louise de Causans. The works will be presented by expert Pauline Testut.
The sale will feature some of the world’s best-known comic-book artists, including Hergé, Franquin, Bilal, Druillet and Jijé. It will also be an opportunity to discover the collection of Claude Lefrancq, whom we warmly thank for the trust he has placed in us and for our enriching conversations. One of the main publishers of Blake and Mortimer and Bob Morane, Lefrancq has already had several lives in comics. Always on the lookout for new projects, he is more passionate than ever.
In 1996, Tajan pioneered the comic strip auction market by organising the first sale devoted to this speciality. Since then, we have always believed in the potential of this passionate world of tradition and modernity.
A Step-by-Step Collection
Building up a collection of original plates does not require any particular knowledge of the history of comics. An interest or curiosity about a work or an artist is more than enough to start a collection. The prices of the works can be quite affordable, starting with posters, lithographs or serigraphs, or even drawings and dedications that can be bought for around thirty euros. Little by little, the collector will be able to imagine a dialogue between the works, which respond to each other in terms of their periods of creation, their drawings, their similar or opposing spirits.
Along with music and film, comics are one of the most popular arts. The general public is always eager to discover new works. The ninth art presents an overflowing imagination in which the reader is immersed.
Comic book production is concentrated around three centres: the United States and its comic books, Japan and its manga, and the centre we share with our Belgian friends. France is fortunate to be home to international publishers such as Glénat, Dargaud, Dupuis, Vents d’Ouest…
Lot 14
JACOBS, Edgar Pierre (1904-1987)
Blake and Mortimer, The Yellow Mark
Colour serigraph based on plate 26 of “The Yellow Mark”.
Good condition – 50 x 70 cm
100 / 150€
“Taking your first steps as a collector can be as simple as buying serigraphs and facsimiles by the master Edgar Jacobs. The author’s precision, colour and sense of synthesis are incomparable. With this immense body of work, Jacobs left his mark on his entire generation with the adventures of Blake and Mortimer.”
Louise de Causans, auctioneer
Director of the Comics Department
Lot 24
MOULINSART-FARIBOLES
“Attention Tryphon” from a vignette on page 8 of “Coke en Stock”.
Faribole in resin and lead
Good condition, very slight scratches
27 x 12 cm
1 500 / 2 000€
© Hergé/Tintinimaginatio 2024
“The figurines are the 3-D incarnations from the albums that fans love. This one is particularly tasty. Tryphon Tournesol in roller-skates as Tintin saves him from a sure fall. These contortions combine movement and humour with fond memories of our childhood.”
Louise de Causans, auctioneer
Director of the Comics Department.
Lot 33
FRANQUIN André & JIDÉHEM
GASTON n°0, EO, rare paperback copy
Editions DUPUIS, 1960
Good condition (restorations)
1 800 / 2 000€
“Album collectors are particularly fond of first editions. They like to remember the beginnings of their favourite authors. This one is a must-have for every Gaston Lagaffe enthusiast. The original Italian-style format gives all its charm to this first copy of our national goofball”.
Louise de Causans, auctioneer
Director of the Comics Department
Lot 41
BILAL ENKI (born 1951)
After the war of nerves, 1997
Grease pencil on tracing paper
60 x 43 cm
20 000 / 30 000€
“Along with Moebius, Enki Bilal is one of the few authors whose work goes beyond the confines of comics alone, and whose reputation extends far beyond the ninth art. His universe is vast, sometimes dark, with tormented characters. By enclosing the characters in a cage, Bilal follows in the same vein as Giacometti with his work “Le Nez”. He creates an autonomous space that questions and destabilises the viewer. Are his characters about to escape? Can they?”
Louise de Causans, auctioneer
Director of the Comics Department
Lot 63
FOLLET, René (1931-2020)
Bob Morane, the shark lagoon
Original cover for the Ananké/L’Age d’or deluxe edition of this novel by Henri Vernes, published in 2019.
Pencil, gouache and Indian ink on paper, 39.5 x 30 cm
30 000/50 000€
“Works by René Follet of such high quality are very rare on the auction market. Our sale on February 8 brings together 16 original works by the author. He combines incredible graphic work in gouache with a science of composition. At first glance, the reader dives into an atmosphere worthy of Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws”: the fear in the diver’s eyes, the whiteness of the shark’s menacing teeth contrasting with the shaded brown background..”
Maître Louise de Causans, auctioneer,
Director of the Comics Department
Bob Morane
Interview with Pauline Testut, our expert on this sale.
“A magnificent composition by the master, featuring a hero whose adventures have appeared in no fewer than 229 novels and 40 comic strips since 1953. A multi-talented adventurer whose adventures began in 1953 under the pen of Henri Vernes, Bob Morane has been portrayed by numerous artists (Vance, Attanasio, Forton…) both on the covers of novels and in comic strip adaptations.
Pierre Joubert (1910-2002), the first to represent him at Marabout, collaborated with René Follet on “La vie de Jean Mermoz”, and later on several Bob Morane adventures in comics in the 1970s, where Follet drew many character sketches and backgrounds.
Twenty years on, René Follet has been commissioned by publisher Claude Lefrancq – whose collection we are presenting on February 8 – to design several covers for the Bob Morane novels, proving himself a worthy heir to his predecessor.
Author Henri Vernes said of him: “Follet is a summit! Probably the only one worthy of succeeding artists like Joubert or Vance. He really is one of the great masters of illustration!” (Source: René Follet, un rêveur sédentaire, Editions l’Age d’or, 2007)
Lot 67
FRANQUIN André (1924-1997)
Panel from gag no. 500
Gag prepublished in Journal Spirou n°1559 of 29 February 1968, then in volume 7 “Une gaffeur sachant gaffer” (A blunderer knowing how to blunder)
published by Dupuis in 1969, Indian ink and pencil on paper
Dimensions: 44 x 31 cm
50 000/ 70 000€
“All Franquin’s genius can be summed up in a single plate: the relevance of the framing, the effectiveness of the point of view, the mastery of typography, the attention to detail… This plate, which plays with the very structure of the plates by moving Gaston out of the frame, is one of the master’s most memorable, because it is so visual and has a punchline in the form of a child’s dream”.
Pauline Testut, expert
Lot 73
JIJÉ, Joseph Gillian (1914-1980)
Tanguy et Laverdure, T.10, Mission Spéciale, plate 45
Indian ink and white gouache on paper for this album published in 1968 by Dargaud from a script by Charlier.
Plate published in Pilote n°385 in 1967. A few small traces of age and small brown spots.
55 x 45 cm
3 000/ 4 000€
“It should be noted that Albert Uderzo drew the first panels of this album up to plate 17, before handing over to Jijé. Uderzo’s influence can be seen in Laverdure’s face in the last panel..”
Pauline Testut, Expert
Lot 80
LAMBIL, Willy LAMBILLOTTE (born 1936)
Les Tuniques Bleues, T.8, les cavaliers du ciel, plate 23B
India ink on paper
32.5 x 44 cm
5 000/7 000€
“First published in Spirou magazine in 1985, with a script by Cauvin, this eighth adventure by Sergeant Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch focuses on a highly original Civil War combat technique: hot-air ballooning. The tactics are highlighted in this superbly staged panel, which also features classic Bluecoat elements: the charging scene, which is present from the very first panel, and the eternal comic duality between the two heroes.
The layout, alternating points of view from the ground and from the balloon, and beautiful inking, make this a magnificent example of Franco-Belgian humour in comics.
Pauline Testut, Expert
Lot 109
GOTLIB, Marcel Gottlieb dit (1934-2016)
“At the gates of big cities, thousands of thugs are made”.
Rare cover and draft cover for the magazine l’Express n°1156 of 3-9 September 1973.
Set of two Indian inks on paper, signed. 19 x 25 cm each.
2 000/3 000€
“Our expert has traced the origin of the drawing. It’s a cover of the magazine L’Express, dated September 1973 and headlined “Banlieues, les ‘Loubards’ vous parlent”. As well as being a hilarious cover, it takes us back to a time when press cartoons were more regularly featured on the cover of magazines such as The New Yorker and Hara Kiri. It was a wonderful surprise for the seller, who wasn’t expecting such a discovery.”
Louise de Causans, auctioneer
Director of the Comics Department
“Here we find the inimitable, delirious style of the master Gotlib, creator of Gai Luron and founder of L’Echo des Savanes and Fluide Glacial, illustrating an article on “Les Loubards””.
Pauline Testut, Expert
DISCOVER THE “COMICS & ILLUSTRATION” AUCTION
SALE INFORMATION
Thursday February 8 at 2.30 pm
Maison Tajan, 37 rue des Mathurins, 75008 Paris
EXPOSITION
Monday 5 February – 10am to 6pm
Tuesday 6 February – 10am to 6pm
Wednesday 7 February – 10am to 6pm
CONTACTS
Louise de Causans – Auctioneer
Department director
+33 1 53 30 30 32 – [email protected]
Jean-Baptiste Camby
Junior specialist
+33 1 53 30 60 07 – [email protected]
PRESS AND PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
Ariane de Miramon
Marketing and Communications Director
+33 1 53 30 30 68 – [email protected]