Cosey - Lot 176

Cosey COSEY JONATHAN Le Berceau du Bodhisattva (T.4), Le Lombard 1979 Original cover. Signed. India ink and gouache on paper 31.8 × 23.9 cm (12.52 × 9.41 in.) It's no coincidence that Cosey's first Jonathan plates were published in Tintin in 1975, the same year as Pratt's Ballade de la mer salée, the first issue of Métal Hurlant, Circus and even Fluide Glacial. This was a period of revolution. Tintin may have become "Nouveau Tintin", but the magazine was dying. And this revolution in the venerable Belgian classic is being led by a handful of veterans who are still going strong (Hermann, Vance, Paape...), but also by a new generation who are instilling a new aesthetic. More airy, more contemplative, nourished by a genuine closeness to nature, but also more spiritual, imbued with the wisdom of ancient and distant civilizations, where inner harmony is erected as a principle of life. This is exemplified by the sublime, simple cover, where the hero Jonathan and his "adopted daughter" Drolma make their way to a Tibetan village clinging to the mountains. All is beautiful and serene, the coppery contours of the young woman's face contrasting with the luminous white of the snow. She glances suspiciously at the reader. She's right to be on the lookout: her parents were murdered by the Chinese occupiers. Indeed, the Jonathan series is not only revolutionary in its aesthetics, but also in its political statement. Masterpiece.