Leslie Armstrong reports on Toronto Draws Tintin: artists from York and beyond reinvent Hergé’s classic hero
Marta Chudolinska’s conception of Hergé’s Tintin is not what you’d expect. Her drawing “Les Aventures de Tinatina” depicts the wiry reporter in a pleated skirt, rouged cheeks, and long, dark lashes.
Other imaginative conceptions in the Toronto Draws Tintin series can be found at the Steam Whistle Brewery, including an Edward Cullen-esque Tintin, a minimalist painting of a sailor’s anchor, and a videogame scene of Tintin and Snowy in flight.
Including work from Toronto-based artists Chester Brown, Michael DeForge, and Zach Worton, the collection of drawings and paintings reworks the characters, at times humourously, and at times somberly. Sponsored by The Beguiling, a comic shop in the Annex, the art show pays homage to Hergé’s extensive artistic legacy. Peter Birkemoe, owner of the cozy shop, is humble about the whole affair.
“It’s not an unusual set of circumstances to see that work reflected through contemporary artists a generation two or three later,” says Birkemoe. “It’s very common, particularly in the comics community, where people have drawn Batman. Many people have drawn something inspired by Akira or Mickey Mouse. It often happens in a charitable context like this.”
Birkemoe says that it is necessary to honour Hergé because his “influence is so great that it’s hard to find a cartoonist who isn’t influenced by his work.”
Also partaking in the art show is York’s first-year fine arts major Tess Reid. Her mixed media submission (which appears on the left-hand corner) depicts a scene in “Destination Moon” where Captain Haddock tells Professor Calculus that he is “acting the goat,” to which Professor Calculus becomes enraged. Her materials are cutout paper, and her colour scheme is fiery red to communicate anger. Her unusual choice of material was simple.
“A lot of people were doing screen printing and pen and ink, but I wanted to do something different,” says Reid. “As long as people recognize craftsmanship, it’s more of a standout.”
The York student prefers a craftsman’s approach to her work, claiming her favourite style of work is to make “personal cards,” geared to the individual’s traits and interests.
Her interest for the Tintin series is rooted mainly in the character himself.
“Tintin is a moral character. He’s an all-around good character who goes on adventures, and we all want to go on adventures.”
Reid’s art will stay on display until November 27. Toronto Draws Tintin surrounds the launch of graphic novel The Adventures of Hergé, a biography of Tintin creator Georges Remi. The comic-biography’s illustrator, Stanislas Barthélémy (penname Stanislas) will also be in attendance.
The book launch at the Brewery on the night of November 27 will also close the art display, culminating in a silent auction, with the money raised going to the Canadian Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund (CCLLDF). The fund was set up after the 2008 arrest of Iowa comic fan Christopher Handley for the possession of “obscene” manga.
Handley was charged when a package addressed to him was intercepted by customs and found to contain drawings of minors involved in sexual acts. He was sentenced to six months in prison after a judge ruled the drawings were obscene material.
Like Handley, Hergé has needed defending. He began “The Shooting Star” in 1941, while he worked at the Nazi-collaborationist paper Le Soir. In its first edition, Tintin faces off against Blumenstein, a Jewish-American financier with a large hook-nose.
Later editions in the post-war era toned down his nose, and changed the name to “Bohlwinkel”. Hergé always responded to anti-Semetic accusations by saying, “that was the style then.” He never thought his Jewish stereotypes were any more offensive than jokes about the Scottish.
But Tintin is not Hergé. Tintin is an adventurer from a bygone era, and he continues to have a certain appeal to this generation. Hergé’s ouvere may be old, but Tintin is eternally young.
With every new generation, there are new art forms, and for Tintin, this means new adventures.
With files from The New York Times Sunday Book Review
