Franquin dessin original Spirou

Franquin/Spirou. Set of 6 original drawings for a proposed Spirou amusement park on the Belgian coast near Middelkerke. The drawings illustrate several buildings and settings in the Far-West style typical of the period, as well as a 3D plan of the entire park. Graphite and watercolor, signed circa 1950. An extremely rare early work/document of fine quality and delightful retro charm. TBE/TBE+. 40 X 30 cm. 4 copies are framed. Provenance: family of former Dupuis sales manager. Drawings received as a gift from Franquin. Signed handwritten letter of provenance included. This amusement park project never saw the light of day, but the Cirque Spirou enjoyed a successful career on the Belgian coast. It was created in 1960 by Jean Nohain and Gilbert Richard. During performances and beach games, children were sometimes given free copies of André Franquin's very first Gaston Lagaffe album, in Italian format... Achille Zavatta's children, William, Willie and Lydia, were responsible for the final seasons from 1968 onwards. André Franquin (1924-1997) was a Belgian comic strip artist. After a year of drawing lessons at the Saint-Luc school in Saint-Gilles, he joined the CBA cartoon studio in 1944 as an animator. During his years as an animator, he met Peyo, creator of the Smurfs, Eddy Paape, creator of Luc Orient, and Morris, creator of Lucky Luke. It was the latter who introduced him to Jijé, father of Spirou. In 1946, Jijé gave him the character, emblem of the Spirou newspaper, after a successful trial published in the 1947 Almanach Spirou. From 1948 to 1949, he followed Jijé and Morris to the United States and Mexico, but nostalgia for his native Brussels and his bride led him to cut the trip short and return to Europe ahead of his companions. For the next ten years, he devoted himself mainly to the "Spirou et Fantasio" series and to the animation of the newspaper: special full-length stories, cover animations and various illustrations. The world of the little bellboy grew prodigiously rich in superb characters: the Count of Champignac, the incredible Marsupilami (1952), the journalist Seccotine, the fearsome Zantafio and Zorglub, etc. 1955 saw a dispute between Dupuis and Franquin over copyright on an album. Franquin joined Éditions Le Lombard, signing a 5-year contract. He creates "Modeste et Pompon" for the magazine Tintin. He reconciles with Dupuis and returns to the Marcinelles studios. However, he continued to work for Le Lombard for four years. Lazy by nature, he created his double as a very special comic strip hero, "Gaston Lagaffe", who was born on February 28, 1957. In 1982, Franquin became depressed and stopped working on both "Gaston" and "Idées noires". In 1984, Franquin started drawing Gaston again. In 1987, one of his creations, the Marsupilami, made a sensational comeback. In 1992, Franquin signed over the rights to much of his work, including Gaston, his monsters and Idées noires, to Marsu Productions. But he didn't stop working altogether. In 1996, he was back in the spotlight with the release of Gaston album no. 15, eagerly awaited by his fans for ten years. The album was a huge success.