History Of Art: Herge's Biography

This is just the first of many blogs I plan to be doing on my History of Art subject. Before I get into the nitty-gritty though I've decided to start with the biography of the comic's author: Herge.

On the 22nd of May 1907 in Brussels (Belgium) Georges Remi was born. At that time nobody knew who he was but at the end of his life on the 3rd of March 1983 practically the whole of Belgium mourned his death. And not just the people in Belgium either, by this point his work had spread out to pretty much every major continent in the planet, most notably in Europe. If you don't recognise his real name that's because he signed his work with a pseudonym that was based of the French phonetic pronunciation of the letters "R" and "G," taken from "Remi" and "Georges": Herge. Herge as a child had a real knack for drawing but didn't have any real training in the visual Arts. He eventually got a job in the scouting magazine "Le Boy Scout Belge" (1924) and made his first comic "The Adventures Of Totor". The hero of the comic Totor was a big inspiration for his next character Tintin, as they shared (roughly) the same features and both characters are on the move, exploring new locations and embarking on new adventures almost every other Week. 

It was in 1928 when he began drawing for a new magazine "Le Vingtieme Siecle", which at the time was a right-wing publisher with a Catholic regime. As a result Herge's next work "Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets" took a more political approach, acting as anti-communist propaganda for children. The comic was published between 10 January 1929 and 8 May 1930 and saw Herge's new creation "Tintin" embarking on a journey to Russia in the days of the URSS, and had several real-life facts melded in with modern action sequences and Herge's trademark humour. After that, his work got more and more popular, to the point where his standard two-pages per issue had increased to 8-16 pages per issue. He also started making a new comic strip, this time called Quick & Flupke, which centred on a group of two boys unintentionally causing trouble wherever they went, further increasing his popularity. By May 1940, he had drawn 310 gags for Quick & Flupke and published several Tintin stories like "Tintin In America" or "Cigars Of The Pharaoh". 

All of Tintin's stories had him travel to distant, far off lands, but the amazing part was that Herge never actually travelled alot himself, but he was known for his meticulous and wide ranging research. Although you could argue that this is were his blatant racist imagery stemmed from, because comics like "Tintin In The Congo" was full of horribly drawn black stereotypes, with big lips and slave-like attitudes. 

It was most likely a product of the time, but pretty noticeable by today's standards.  In 1950 Herge made "Studio Herge" and produced the full 24 Tintin albums which were then adapted for T.V, radio, Theatre ect... By this point his work had been translated into several languages and were being read by Millions. Tintin was something of a cultural phenomenon, and had a broad appeal that everyone has come to love. Herge's famous style of drawing "Ligne Claire" (clear strong lines that never change in consistency) have inspired a new generation of artists, and his work has been closely studied by Art enthusiasts trying to unearth the possible hidden "meanings" in his drawings. After several years of acclaimed success Herge finally succumbed to his long term illness, which was most likely a form of lukemia. 

His death was also hastened by an HIV infection that he had become the victim of during his weekly blood transfusions. Tintin's 24th album "Tintin And Alph-Art" was left unfinished, but was released posthumously in 1986. Herge's enormous body of work has just recently been incorporated in a massive museum, known as "Le Musee Herge" in Belgium. To date over 200 million Tintin albums have been sold.  


It's going to be tough translating this into French, but before I do, any comments/criticisms?