Hergé - Lot 165

Hergé HERGÉ TINTIN Les Bijoux de la Castafiore (T.21), Casterman 1963 Original pencil sketch for plate no. 2, prepublished in Tintin belge no. 28, July 11, 1961. 32.3 × 30 cm (12.72 × 11.81 in.) These inaugural panels of Les Bijoux de la Castafiore (1963) are among the most famous in Hergé's entire oeuvre, so much so do they herald the singular tone of this album, a closed-door adventure completely apart from the rest, an "anti-adventure". But there's another thing that sets it apart: conceived by a Hergé who is emerging from a depression that will be resolved in Tintin in Tibet, the approach to his stories becomes more reasoned, particularly in relation to the recurrent attacks that his work arouses, accused of racism, colonialism (the Congo has just gained its independence) and anti-Semitism. At the start of the story, Tintin and Captain Haddock enjoy the countryside around Moulinsart and discover, near a rubbish dump, an encampment of Gypsies, a population that suffered the same fate as the Jews during the occupation. Haddock is disgusted by their treatment and invites them to settle in a corner of his property. But their presence reactivates the prejudices affecting this community, and of course, when the Castafiore jewels disappear, they are among the first to be suspected... It's in this inaugural scene that our two heroes meet Miarka, a little girl crying. Tintin's protector of endangered children (Tchang, Zorrino...) can only react... But the little girl is frightened and bites Haddock "until she bleeds". Benoît Peeters analyzes: "This segment offers [...] a kind of foreshortening of the relationship the heroes will have with Castafiore: this confrontation between a group of male characters and femininity, which is perhaps the real subject of Les Bijoux. [...] Strange as it may seem, Miarka and the Castafiore can be seen as two sides of the same character...". In any case, these pencil sketches show the level of work and thought that Hergé put into his work. Didier Pasamonik