This portrait of Tintin creator Hergé was drawn by Belgian illustrator, designer, typographer and cartoonist Lucien De Roeck in the early 80’s.
De Roeck, who is probably best known for his design and illustration work for the Brussels World Expo in 1958 (he created the famous Expo Star, amongst others), was the subject of a retrospective exhibition in the La Cambre school in Brussels.
The show focused on De Roeck’s work as a sketch artist, with gorgeous water colors and large reproductions of line art from his many sketchbooks. Also on show were a few examples of his quite rare cartoon work, and the original gouache designs for the Antwerp Port poster that made him famous in the 1930’s.
De Roeck was also an accomplished typographer, who created titles for books and newspapers that have become quite iconic and typical for an era. The posters that decorated the central area (where a documentary on De Roeck was shown) beautifully depicted the graphical look of that post-war era, when hope and positivity were no less empty words than they are now.
I had long been a fan of the, quite often derided, aesthetics of Expo 58, and I had never before heard of this wonderful man, who created beautiful art at an impressive rate, and remained a humble man throughout. Thanks, mr. De Roeck.
What a wonderful find. De Roeck is indeed pretty anonymous, even in Belgium. But then again typography and graphic design isn’t that well known either here.