PEYO LIFE AND WORK OF A MARVELLOUS STORYTELLER: SMURFEN

JANUARI 2025 (SLECHTS ENKELE EXEMPLAREN OP VOORRAAD)

AMERIKAANSE UITGAVE (FRANS ENGELS) OVER HET WERK, LEVEN VAN PEYO

SMURFEN. JOHAN EN PIRREWIET, STEVEN STERK EN ALLE ANDERE STUDIO PEYO

OPVALLEND MOOIE UITGAVE MAAR LIEFST 225 PAGINA'S IN KLEUR

AMERIKAANSE VERKOOPPRIJS IS $ 50,-

Issued on the occasion of a recent exhaustive exhibition of original art by Peyo, father of the Smurfs, this is a hefty compendium chock-a-block with reproductions of his original pages from Johan & Peewit to Poussy the Cat and more, and of course with plenty of Smurfs art! Accompanied by text on the history of Peyo’s creations. Direct import from France.

An exhibition catalogue of over 200 works from an Artcurial exhibit with art provided by the Culliford family, and published by Eleroy. A career retrospective covering a large amount of work in 256 glorious pages, with a range of original art sizes, styles and mediums. Fans of bande dessinée and Peyo in particular owe it to themselves to track this book down.

Along with all that original art is a brief but comprehensive biography of Peyo by Pierre Sterckx, broken into chapters. The text appears in French first (in black) and then in English (in red). The English translation is a bit rough but gets the job done.

The artwork presents very well: all scans are clear and without and softness, blurriness, or digital defects, thanks to Sylvain Rousseau. A variety of ageing from light tanning to yellowing to medium tanning. There are also spots from tape and staples. Blacks show gradients. Correction fluid used sparingly. Margin notes appear limited to production notes: issue, page, printing size.

Most of the pages have two pieces taped together, most likely from their appearing in magazines as half pages and then taped together for a complete page for the albums. A lot of the pages also have staples along the left side, or staple holes, something I haven’t encountered before. Were the coloured overlays stapled on the original art?