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Poster: "Cinquante Ans de Travaux Fort Gais"?

glashab
Member
#1 · Posted: 8 Jan 2016 15:20
Hi All,

I was wondering if any of you out there knew if there was a poster made or going to be made of the book Cinquante Ans De Travaux Fort Gais?
I know that the Tintin Shop sells a poster of La Musee Imaginaire De Tintin, but cannot find any information anywhere on the poster of Cinquante Ans.
Thank you for any help!
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 10 Jan 2016 14:32
Not that I know of; it wasn't ever available as a commercial book (it was done for Hergé to give as a present to friends, colleagues and staff of his publishers, as well as the press; it has only ever been commercially available as part of a larger album, one of a bound-volume series of his books sold through mail-order in continental Europe by Rombaldi), so its status is different from other books, I imagine; the cover was intended as a joke amongst a small group, and may not be seen as the most positive of images outside of that context.

La Musée Imaginaire was first and foremost an exhibition, and the poster was done to advertise that; the book actually utilises the image done for the poster, and acted as a catalogue of the exhibition. The poster was thus an actual poster, rather than a decorative item, if you see what I mean.
glashab
Member
#3 · Posted: 10 Jan 2016 15:52
Thank you very much for this information jock123 it is greatly appreciated. It totally makes sense now. Hope you had a great New Year!
mct16
Member
#4 · Posted: 11 Jan 2016 21:14
I assume that you are discussing the cover of the book "Cinquante Ans de Travaux Fort Gais" which depicts Herge hard at work at his drawing board, wearing a prison outfit and a ball and chain! His characters surround him, making sure that he is getting on with his work - Tintin is even brandishing a cat o' nine tails!

Here is an alternative explanation:

That cover was used for issue 174 of the weekly comic "Journal de Tintin", published in the second week of January 1979 in order to mark the 50th anniversary of Tintin's first appearance. This issue also included a life-size poster of Tintin and Snowy.

This poster can be seen on this auction website (but no longer for sale).

The actual comic and the poster are for sale on ebay.

This cover was used again for a limited edition book in which Herge describes drawing the page of a Tintin story, from planning to rough sketches of hands, heads and other details to the actual drawing and colouring of the final page (in this case a scene from "Picaros" featuring Sponsz and Alvarez which was not used in the final book).

According to Bedetheque (the IMDB of French-language comics), 2000 copies were distributed during cocktail celebrations of Tintin's fiftieth anniversary.
glashab
Member
#5 · Posted: 12 Jan 2016 03:32
Hi mct16,

Thank you ever so much for this information. You guys know everything! Thank you for putting those links I might have to get a copy of the magazine itself. I had no idea it was on the Tintin magazine as well! Thanks again :)
jock123
Moderator
#6 · Posted: 23 Jan 2016 15:00
mct16:
This cover was used again for a limited edition book

The book actually pre-dates the magazine, having a publication date of 1978; the appearance on the magazine is therefore the re-use.
glashab
Member
#7 · Posted: 23 Jan 2016 15:38
Hi Jock,

This makes sense! It's a shame I couldn't buy this for the collection as it is so expensive. Do you think Herge drew this or Bob De Moor? The stripe on the top with Tintin and Snowy had been updated to an older Tintin as if this is what he would look like in further adventures....
jock123
Moderator
#8 · Posted: 23 Jan 2016 17:29
Hergé definitely drew this - it really was a strict rule that Hergé drew Tintin (and the main characters, by-and-large) himself. The book is a very personal statement of his work and art - it's mainly an illustrated essay by Hergé, taking you stage by stage through the making of a page - so it would have been a rather odd thing for him to not do it, under the circumstances.
The head-and-shoulders portraits of Tintin and Snowy are new for this, but he drew them all the time (on letters and books, for example), so probably was just bringing them into line with the current style he was using - the fuller quiff, the more defined chin, and the dimples round the mouth, for example.
glashab
Member
#9 · Posted: 23 Jan 2016 17:57
Hi Jock,

This was something I wondered for a while about Tintin drawings that looked Bob de Moor'ish (or maybe more modern might be what I mean) Thank you for letting me know I had never known that the those characters had been off limits to others. It makes sense thank you for your expertise.It seems after Picaros he tried to mix Tintin with art and try to make him come to life outside his adventures such as the Musee Imaginaire de Tintin poster etc..

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