Bande Dessinée & Illustration

Vente aux Enchères - Christie's

Christie's, one of the world’s leading international auction houses, is delighted to be holding its next Comic Strip sale in Paris on 20 November, in partnership with comics experts and gallery owners Alain Huberty and Marc Breyne.
Alain Huberty and Marc Breyne are major players in the market for Comic Strip originals and have put together for this sale almost three hundred original plates, drawings, illustrations and works by leading exponents of the Ninth Art, estimated to fetch three million euros.
The sale spans the entire history of the comics medium. Major periods are represented through a selection of iconic works, starting with some of the great Belgian classics – Hergé, Raymond Macherot, Jacques Martin, Willy Vandersteen, Peyo, André Franquin, Jean Roba and Morris – and including key contributors to the magazines Pilote, À Suivre and Métal Hurlant such as Jacques Tardi, Didier Comès, Hugo Pratt, François Schuiten, Moebius and Enki Bilal and contemporary exponents of the genre such as Nicolas de Crécy and Midam. There is also a strong focus on that master of eroticism Milo Manara, who has produced a dozen large watercolours of his heroines specially for the occasion.

Julien Pradels, CEO of Christie's France, says: “We’re delighted to be working with the Huberty & Breyne Gallery and establishing ourselves in this corner of the market. Alain Huberty and Marc Breyne will be bringing a fresh impetus to Christie’s thanks to their considerable experience of the world of comics. This next sale already looks very promising and we’re confident it will be a great success.”
Alain Huberty and Marc Breyne: “Our aim with this sale was to return to the roots of Comic Strip and offer collectors top-quality works representative of each of its movements – from Hergé’s ligne claire and his contemporaries to the French schools of the 1970s which paved the way for freedom of expression and graphic experimentation. A freedom which opened up new comic book perspectives and which continues to inspire current generations and the talents of the future.”

Collectors from across the globe will find here the perfect balance between iconic works, part of the very heritage of Comic Strip, and creations that are new and ground-breaking. One of the main attractions is a marvellous plate by HERGÉ (1907-1983) representing Tintin and Snowy snatching Ottokar’s Sceptre from the hands of the conspirators. Published in 1938, this Indian ink drawing has been in a private collection and this is the first time it has appeared on the market.
One of the other key works in the sale is an Indian ink drawing by André FRANQUIN (1924-1997) for the title page of the tenth issue of Le Trombone Illustré, published in Spirou magazine from 16 June 1977 (estimate: 58,000-60,000 euros). This eight-page weekly supplement, the brainchild of André FRANQUIN and Yves DELPORTE, was produced clandestinely in the cellars at Éditions Dupuis and inserted into the magazine between March and October 1977. Its subversiveness and caustic humour were to leave their mark on the world of Franco-Belgian comics.

Fans of the famous Lucky Luke comic series created by MORRIS (1923-2001) will have the opportunity to acquire a preparatory sketch in Indian ink for the Lucky Luke 20th-anniversary drawing that was used for the cover of the 1987-1988 edition of BDM, Trésors de la bande-dessinée. The creator of this major comic work received the Angoulême International Comics Festival’s special 20th-anniversary Grand Prize and was made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1998. The drawing shows Lucky Luke holding a letter containing the words “With congratulations from the Daltons”, and the heads of the latter appearing within the door frame. It is estimated to fetch between 14,000 and 18,000 euros.

Two works by Marcel GOTLIB (1934-2016) will also be up for sale. Gotlib was a talented writer and illustrator of comics and is famous for creating the magazine Fluide Glacial and the series Les Dingodossiers, co-produced with René Goscinny in 1965 while the two of them were collaborating on Pilote magazine. The works on offer are Indian ink plates from this series, published in 1966 in issue 339 of the magazine. Les Dingodossiers – drawn in black and white – offered Gotlib and Goscinny a platform for illustrating the trials and tribulations of ordinary life alongside the issues of the day (estimate: 8,000-9,000 euros).

One of the must-see works in the sale is by André JUILLARD (born 1948) – a drawing in Indian ink and watercolour created to serve as the first plate in Juillard’s Le Cahier bleu. In this terrific album, Juillard – who was awarded the Angoulême Festival’s Grand Prize in 1996 – offers us a story inspired by the themes of love and chance, and a far cry from his familiar historical comics. In this ultra-contemporary comic telling the story of three interconnected lives, Juillard draws a vividly precise picture of Paris and its architecture.

Science fiction fans will be delighted by a selection of works by the brilliant MOEBIUS (Jean Giraud 1938-2012), including a remarkable plate from Une aventure de John Difool representing the famous detective and his concrete seagull Deepo. This beautiful Indian ink drawing was made for L'Incal Noir (plate 23), published by les Humanoïdes Associés in 1981.

La Trilogie Nikopol, the work for which he is probably most famous, earned Enki BILAL (born in 1951) a reputation as one of the cult authors of contemporary Comic Strip, both with the general public and as judged by the critics. Christie’s is offering the sixth plate from the album Froid Equateur, the final volume in the celebrated trilogy, published by Les Humanoïdes Associés in 1992. This beautiful page in direct colour depicts the series protagonists and is estimated at 30,000-35,000 euros.

PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS

Brussels
Wednesday 23 to Saturday 26 October from 11.00 am to 6.00 pm

Huberty & Breyne Gallery: 33 Place du Châtelain, 1050 Bruxelles

Paris
Thursday 14 November to Saturday 16 November from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
Monday 18 November from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm
Tuesday 19 November from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon
Closed Sunday 17 November

Christie's: 9 avenue Matignon, 75008 Paris