Illustrators (page in reconstruction)
1907-(1919) Le Livre de la Marquise by Somov
2008 SOLD for £ 1.2M by MacDougall's
In intellectual matters, the eighteenth-century in Europe was philosophical and courtly. Erotic writings and poems joined at that time into the higher literature. Later anthologies have been made, and of course they were illustrated.
"Le Livre de la Marquise" is one of such anthologies, published in 1907 in Munich by Hans von Weber from an idea by Franz Blei. It contains excerpts from works of fifty authors, including Voltaire, Parny, Laclos, Casanova.
The illustration was left to Konstantin Somov. The artist, who considered that there was no art without eroticism, is perfectly at ease in his subject. His detailed and realistic drawings represent parks and interiors where to meet and love.
Lot 6 of November 25, 2008 sale by Macdougall's was a collection of 122 drawings in ink, sometimes enhanced with white, made by Somov for Le Livre de la Marquise. Some drawings are subsequent to the original issue because the artist continued to work to it until the final edition of 1919. It was sold for £ 1.2M.
"Le Livre de la Marquise" is one of such anthologies, published in 1907 in Munich by Hans von Weber from an idea by Franz Blei. It contains excerpts from works of fifty authors, including Voltaire, Parny, Laclos, Casanova.
The illustration was left to Konstantin Somov. The artist, who considered that there was no art without eroticism, is perfectly at ease in his subject. His detailed and realistic drawings represent parks and interiors where to meet and love.
Lot 6 of November 25, 2008 sale by Macdougall's was a collection of 122 drawings in ink, sometimes enhanced with white, made by Somov for Le Livre de la Marquise. Some drawings are subsequent to the original issue because the artist continued to work to it until the final edition of 1919. It was sold for £ 1.2M.
1914 Beat Up Boy by Leyendecker
2021 SOLD for $ 4.1M by Heritage
Link to catalogue.
Astérix
1
1964 Le Tour de Gaule
2017 SOLD for € 1.45M by Art Richelieu
Astérix le Gaulois was born in 1959 from the collaboration of two comic strip humorists, the screenwriter René Goscinny and the cartoonist Albert Uderzo. The endless stream of gags and puns appeals to the French-speaking public enormously. The continuous practice of a second degree humor makes it possible to capture the enthusiasm of both children and adults.
The authors add to the bravery of the little Gaulish warrior an invincible force of superhero and the clever struggle against an oppressive regime, allowing skillful social, political or regionalist hints.
On television, Pierre Tchernia is the highly popular Monsieur Cinéma. At the end of 1964, he comes closer to the Goscinny-Uderzo team, which he helps from 1968 to make adaptations of Astérix in movie cartoons. The cheerful face of Tchernia has sometimes been gently caricatured by Uderzo for secondary characters in his stories.
The Tchernia collection of comics was sold at auction by Art Richelieu (Patrick Deburaux) on October 13, 2017. The two top lots, estimated € 180K each, were original drawings made before the title by Uderzo in black ink, gouache and colored inks for album covers.
The drawing of Le Tour de Gaule d'Astérix, 50 x 37 cm, was prepared in 1964. It was inscribed by the two authors "to Pierre Tchernia, a modest expression of sympathy in homage to the wit and kindness of the great television man". This image marks the very first appearance of the pet dog Idéfix for a cover. It was sold for € 1.45M.
The authors add to the bravery of the little Gaulish warrior an invincible force of superhero and the clever struggle against an oppressive regime, allowing skillful social, political or regionalist hints.
On television, Pierre Tchernia is the highly popular Monsieur Cinéma. At the end of 1964, he comes closer to the Goscinny-Uderzo team, which he helps from 1968 to make adaptations of Astérix in movie cartoons. The cheerful face of Tchernia has sometimes been gently caricatured by Uderzo for secondary characters in his stories.
The Tchernia collection of comics was sold at auction by Art Richelieu (Patrick Deburaux) on October 13, 2017. The two top lots, estimated € 180K each, were original drawings made before the title by Uderzo in black ink, gouache and colored inks for album covers.
The drawing of Le Tour de Gaule d'Astérix, 50 x 37 cm, was prepared in 1964. It was inscribed by the two authors "to Pierre Tchernia, a modest expression of sympathy in homage to the wit and kindness of the great television man". This image marks the very first appearance of the pet dog Idéfix for a cover. It was sold for € 1.45M.
2
1968 Le Bouclier Arverne
2017 SOLD for € 1.2M by Art Richelieu
In the same sale as Le Tour de Gaule by Art Richelieu on October 13, 2017, the cover art for Le Bouclier Arverne was sold for € 1.2M.
This drawing 41 x 33 cm was prepared in 1968. It was dedicated by Uderzo to the whole Tchernia family.
This drawing 41 x 33 cm was prepared in 1968. It was dedicated by Uderzo to the whole Tchernia family.
FRAZETTA
Intro
Jim Warren is looking for a formula to take his piece of the pie in editing stories for teens and young adults. He mainly finds his inspiration with the horror movie monsters, and creates a mixture of comic books and pulp magazines. The first issue of Creepy appears in 1964. The success brings other titles in the same style : Eerie in 1966, Vampirella in 1969.
Frank Frazetta is a comic book artist. He also has fun with horror films. In Creepy No. 1, he illustrates in stripes a story titled Werewolf. His talents are undeniable. Warren now entrusts him with the illustration of most of the covers, including in a short-lived magazine of war stories. This initiative frees the artist's overflowing imagination from the constraint of respecting scenarios and stories. This is the great turning point in his career.
Barely dressed in a loincloth aside with some jewelry for the women, Frazetta's characters are extremely muscular, confident in their strength to face the unclean beasts that mark their daily lives.
Frank Frazetta is a comic book artist. He also has fun with horror films. In Creepy No. 1, he illustrates in stripes a story titled Werewolf. His talents are undeniable. Warren now entrusts him with the illustration of most of the covers, including in a short-lived magazine of war stories. This initiative frees the artist's overflowing imagination from the constraint of respecting scenarios and stories. This is the great turning point in his career.
Barely dressed in a loincloth aside with some jewelry for the women, Frazetta's characters are extremely muscular, confident in their strength to face the unclean beasts that mark their daily lives.
1
1969 Egyptian Queen
2019 SOLD for $ 5.4M by Heritage
The art of Frank Frazetta is a collection of parallel universes populated by muscular women and terrifying creatures. Working primarily for book and magazine covers, he must capture the attention of bookstore customers by offering intense action moments.
Frazetta uses oil painting with brilliant colors and dramatic contrast, unleashing the eroticism of almost naked women. He excites the fantasies of the readers of his time, just as the horror films of Universal Pictures had made moviegoers forget the consequences of the great crisis.
Egyptian Queen is an oil on stretched canvas 50 x 66 cm. This scene contains all the ingredients for a dream : the woman is a queen from a mysterious other time, altogether haughty and slightly sulky, protected by an antique guard with a heavy sword. In the foreground a powerful wild beast is her pet, with a collar.
Frazetta worked very fast. With Egyptian Queen, he appreciates that he has all the elements of a masterpiece. He wants the heavily made-up eyes to have a hypnotizing power. After leaving the painting aside for several months, he suddenly finds his inspiration and finishes the work in a few minutes.
First published in 1969 as the cover of the horror comics magazine Eerie # 23, Egyptian Queen will then be widely reused for magazines and posters. Frazetta kept the original throughout his life. This painting was sold for $ 5.4M by Heritage on May 16, 2019, lot 91027. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Frazetta uses oil painting with brilliant colors and dramatic contrast, unleashing the eroticism of almost naked women. He excites the fantasies of the readers of his time, just as the horror films of Universal Pictures had made moviegoers forget the consequences of the great crisis.
Egyptian Queen is an oil on stretched canvas 50 x 66 cm. This scene contains all the ingredients for a dream : the woman is a queen from a mysterious other time, altogether haughty and slightly sulky, protected by an antique guard with a heavy sword. In the foreground a powerful wild beast is her pet, with a collar.
Frazetta worked very fast. With Egyptian Queen, he appreciates that he has all the elements of a masterpiece. He wants the heavily made-up eyes to have a hypnotizing power. After leaving the painting aside for several months, he suddenly finds his inspiration and finishes the work in a few minutes.
First published in 1969 as the cover of the horror comics magazine Eerie # 23, Egyptian Queen will then be widely reused for magazines and posters. Frazetta kept the original throughout his life. This painting was sold for $ 5.4M by Heritage on May 16, 2019, lot 91027. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2
1970 A Princess of Mars
2020 SOLD for $ 1.2M by Heritage
In 1911 Edgar Rice Burroughs has the unprofitable job of a wholesaler of pencil sharpeners. He has free time and reads pulp magazines. He will say in 1929: "If people are paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines, I could write stories just as rotten".
Burroughs immediately conceives the triad that will appeal to readers : an ideal hero goes to the rescue of a sublime woman prisoner of a super-villain. The action takes place on another planet, allowing for the most extravagant fantasies of biomorphism, civilization, and technology. The first novel is A Princess of Mars, soon followed by Tarzan who ensures his planetary, even galactic, success.
Much later, Frank Frazetta prepares cover art for newly scheduled editions of novels and magazines. He loves his job passionately. He manages to recover from the publisher his Egyptian Queen, which he embellishes with some retouching. This original art was sold for $ 5.4M by Heritage in 2019.
Painted in 1970 to illustrate Burroughs' masterpiece, A Princess of Mars stages the triad in an interplanetary atmosphere. The couple in full glory are almost naked, with strong muscles. The proud woman is in front of the man who brandishes a huge sword above their heads. A half-arachnid, half-anthropoid creature dies in the foreground on a moon of Mars. The red planet is in the background
Frazetta understands that Doubleday Publishing will not return his art to him. He makes for his personal use an identical copy, which he will embellish later. With the same provenance as the Egyptian Queen, this 40 x 50 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 1.2M by Heritage on September 10, 2020, lot 91010.
Burroughs immediately conceives the triad that will appeal to readers : an ideal hero goes to the rescue of a sublime woman prisoner of a super-villain. The action takes place on another planet, allowing for the most extravagant fantasies of biomorphism, civilization, and technology. The first novel is A Princess of Mars, soon followed by Tarzan who ensures his planetary, even galactic, success.
Much later, Frank Frazetta prepares cover art for newly scheduled editions of novels and magazines. He loves his job passionately. He manages to recover from the publisher his Egyptian Queen, which he embellishes with some retouching. This original art was sold for $ 5.4M by Heritage in 2019.
Painted in 1970 to illustrate Burroughs' masterpiece, A Princess of Mars stages the triad in an interplanetary atmosphere. The couple in full glory are almost naked, with strong muscles. The proud woman is in front of the man who brandishes a huge sword above their heads. A half-arachnid, half-anthropoid creature dies in the foreground on a moon of Mars. The red planet is in the background
Frazetta understands that Doubleday Publishing will not return his art to him. He makes for his personal use an identical copy, which he will embellish later. With the same provenance as the Egyptian Queen, this 40 x 50 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 1.2M by Heritage on September 10, 2020, lot 91010.
3
1990 Death Dealer
2018 SOLD for $ 1.8M by Heritage
Link to catalogue.
1983 Frankenstein
2019 SOLD for $ 1.2M by Heritage
Link to catalogue.
1984 Spider-Man Secret Wars
2022 SOLD for $ 3.36M by Heritage
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars is a series of twelve stories published by Marvel Comics from May 1984 to April 1985 in conjunction with a toy line by Mattel. The books were a best seller while the toys were a commercial failure.
It features nearly all the major heroes and villains of the period. The No. 8 reveals why and how Spider-Man changed his suit seven months earlier in The Amazing Spider-Man magazine # 252.
The pages 24 and 25 of the Secret Wars indeed display one of the most thrilling events that happened to Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. The super-hero is choosing a new costume without appreciating that it is an alien symbiote, which is an artefact from enemy aliens for taking the control of the planet.
Page 24 ends by the astonishment of Spider-Man that his left glove is becoming black. Page 25 starts with a two third height image of Spider-Man taking flight in a full black uniform with a large white spider wrapped on the chest. The lower third is confronting two images, of Spider-Man thrown into the air in his new attire and of the desperate choir of the other heroes viewing it as the evidence that "Galactus is devouring the planet".
The original 25 x 38 cm ink over graphite drawings on bristol board had been prepared by Mike Zeck and co-authors. Treasured in a collection since the late 1980s, they were sold by Heritage on January 13, 2022. Page 24 was sold for $ 290K, lot 91028, and page 25 for $ 3.36M, lot 91029.
It features nearly all the major heroes and villains of the period. The No. 8 reveals why and how Spider-Man changed his suit seven months earlier in The Amazing Spider-Man magazine # 252.
The pages 24 and 25 of the Secret Wars indeed display one of the most thrilling events that happened to Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. The super-hero is choosing a new costume without appreciating that it is an alien symbiote, which is an artefact from enemy aliens for taking the control of the planet.
Page 24 ends by the astonishment of Spider-Man that his left glove is becoming black. Page 25 starts with a two third height image of Spider-Man taking flight in a full black uniform with a large white spider wrapped on the chest. The lower third is confronting two images, of Spider-Man thrown into the air in his new attire and of the desperate choir of the other heroes viewing it as the evidence that "Galactus is devouring the planet".
The original 25 x 38 cm ink over graphite drawings on bristol board had been prepared by Mike Zeck and co-authors. Treasured in a collection since the late 1980s, they were sold by Heritage on January 13, 2022. Page 24 was sold for $ 290K, lot 91028, and page 25 for $ 3.36M, lot 91029.
1986 The Dark Knight Returns
2022 SOLD for $ 2.4M by Heritage
In 1986, Batman is a superhero for now 47 years. Two years after the restart of Spider-Man by Marvel, the Dark Knight is re-launched by DC.
The new graphic novel is prepared by the author artist Frank Miller in only four issues. An original feature is the aging of the previous wonder boy, now announced as a 55 year old revenger after a ten year hiatus.
Batman is surrounded by traditional characters from his universe but himself changed a lot. The flying hero becomes a muscular brute, without however reaching the enormity of the Incredible Hulk. And even his mission becomes murky : he is more concerned with personal vendetta than with the welfare of mankind.
Young readers like to be surprised, and this small series was one of the most successful comics of its time. Its original drawings are highly considered.
The first issue is titled The Dark Knight Returns. The cover is a spectacular drawing by Miller finished by the colorist Lynn Varley of the black silhouette of Batman riding a fringed lightning bolt that splits the night sky.
Its original artwork is a 30 x 45 cm ink over graphite on Bristol board with airbrushed color. With a former Varley provenance, it was sold for $ 2.4M by Heritage on June 16, 2022, lot 91074. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On August 2, 2013, Heritage sold for $ 480K the original drawing in black pen and ink 32 x 45 cm for the cover of issue 2, lot 92234. Fully prepared by Miller himself, it remained in its original state without added color. Batman in front view takes the pose of Rodin's thinker. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Used as a full-page in issue 3, a drawing by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson was sold for $ 450K by Heritage on May 5, 2011. Batman and a sidekick are staging a violent aerial scene well above the city.
The new graphic novel is prepared by the author artist Frank Miller in only four issues. An original feature is the aging of the previous wonder boy, now announced as a 55 year old revenger after a ten year hiatus.
Batman is surrounded by traditional characters from his universe but himself changed a lot. The flying hero becomes a muscular brute, without however reaching the enormity of the Incredible Hulk. And even his mission becomes murky : he is more concerned with personal vendetta than with the welfare of mankind.
Young readers like to be surprised, and this small series was one of the most successful comics of its time. Its original drawings are highly considered.
The first issue is titled The Dark Knight Returns. The cover is a spectacular drawing by Miller finished by the colorist Lynn Varley of the black silhouette of Batman riding a fringed lightning bolt that splits the night sky.
Its original artwork is a 30 x 45 cm ink over graphite on Bristol board with airbrushed color. With a former Varley provenance, it was sold for $ 2.4M by Heritage on June 16, 2022, lot 91074. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On August 2, 2013, Heritage sold for $ 480K the original drawing in black pen and ink 32 x 45 cm for the cover of issue 2, lot 92234. Fully prepared by Miller himself, it remained in its original state without added color. Batman in front view takes the pose of Rodin's thinker. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Used as a full-page in issue 3, a drawing by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson was sold for $ 450K by Heritage on May 5, 2011. Batman and a sidekick are staging a violent aerial scene well above the city.
