CHALAND

YVES CHALAND FREDDY LOMBARD F-52 (T.5), Les Humanoïdes Associés 1989 Original plate no. 16. The character in the fifth panel has been redesigned by the artist and affixed to the original. India ink and blue pencil on paper 32.5 × 42.7 cm (12.8 × 16.81 in.) Freddy Lombard's F52 is the last and most stylish album in the series. Graphically, Chaland is under the rigorous influence of Floc'h, with whom he has passionate aesthetic discussions, and of Yann - co-signatory of the previous two albums in the series - who has given him a particular kind of burlesque fantasy. Alongside Yves Chaland, these two figures from the comic strip world of the 1970s-1980s dynamize classic comics, bringing them into the modern age. The result is a Hitchcock-esque huis-clos, a masterpiece of Ligne claire with a futuristic aesthetic - experimented with some time earlier in the Adolphus Claar series - of perfect clarity and aesthetics. Sadly, this was the last album by Yves Chaland, who died tragically the following year at the age of 33.