S.K. Collection - Lot 9

S.K. Collection PHILIPPE DRUILLET SALAMMBÔ Original cover of the magazine Spatial n° 7 published by Michel Deligne in January 1979. Signed. Mixed media on paper 50 × 70 cm (19.69 × 27.56 in.) A very fine composition from Druillet's best period. Salammbô sits on her marble throne, blue as a creature by Félix Labisse, hieratic, icy, spectral and sensual, flanked by two bronze creatures. Above her, overhanging and integrating the model's ornament, a ghostly, menacing figure appears, treated with airbrush, a color projection technique in vogue in the late 1970s and now extinct. This cover, produced for Belgian bookseller-publisher Michel Deligne, is one of the few still available on the market. Jacques Attali, fascinated by the artist, confessed that he would first look at the drawing in minute detail for hours on end, appreciating "the meticulous fantasy of the delirious precision of the graphics, the colors, the shapes...", only returning to the text afterwards. It's clear that Druillet's graphic lyricism has left a definitive mark on French comics, influencing numerous authors such as Olivier Ledroit.