Klare Lijn virtuoso and very nice guy in general Peter Van Dongen paraphrases the classic cover to Hergé’s Tintin Au Pays Des Soviets in this illustration for the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad’s books section. The article was a review of the collected works of Karel Van Het Reve, a Dutch writer and journalist, who for a long time was the Moscow correspondent for the Parool daily.
(illustration © Peter Van Dongen)
Peter Van Dongen, mentioned before, did this incredible portrait of Dutch poet Remco Campert for the NRC-Handelsblad issue of november, 11.
(thanks, mom)
I wrote about Peter Van Dongen before, during my 40 years anniversary blogging marathon, and I consider him to be one of the finest examples of true Ligne Claire cartooning around, period. His grasp of the visual language that was pioneered by Hergé is on a par with people like the late Bob De Moor or Theo Van Den Boogaard.
With the illustration above, Van Dongen also proves that he’s even able to rewind Hergé’s evolution, and imitating his style in his early Petit XXe period. Moreover, I am completely in awe with the way in which he succeeds in emulating the color effects that the printing process at that time resulted in.
This illustration was scanned from the Dutch magazine Boek, which in its turn reprinted it from Duizend Bommen, a Dutch Hergé fanzine.
(Illustration © Peter Van Dongen, Tintin ™ and © Moulinsart)
I had the honor of spending an evening with Peter Van Dongen, creator of Rampokan and acclaimed “ligne claire” illustrator. Not only did he turn out to be an incredible sketcher (you should have seen what he drew in the restaurant’s golden book), but he was also a very well-read, kind and emphatic conversation partner. Now, if only he weren’t so modest…
These illustrations were published in 2004, in the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland, and accompanied a piece about the best bookstores in the Netherlands. Tintinophiles no doubt recognize the policeman.
Incidently, a bookstore from Maastricht, which is quite close to where I live, won.
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