Hergé

Georges Remi, known as Hergé (a phonetic inversion of his initials, R.G.), was born in Etterbeek, near Brussels, on 22 May 1907. A self-taught artist, he grew up in a modest family and discovered his passion for drawing at an early age through the Scout movement, which would have a lasting influence on his imagination and values. In 1925, he joined the Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, run by Father Norbert Wallez, who in 1928 entrusted him with creating a youth supplement, Le Petit Vingtième. It was there that, on 10 January 1929, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets was first published, the first instalment of The Adventures of Tintin. The character enjoyed rapid and enduring success. As the comic books progressed, Hergé developed the ‘ligne claire’ – a minimalist graphic style based on clean lines, flat areas of colour and a highly rigorous composition – which would become the hallmark of the Brussels School. Committed to realism and thorough research, he surrounded himself with collaborators and specialists to enrich his stories, particularly after meeting the young Tchang Tchong-jen, who inspired The Blue Lotus (1936). The post-war period saw the founding of Studios Hergé (1950), which enabled him to professionalise the production of the albums with a dedicated team, including Edgar P. Jacobs, Bob De Moor and Jacques Martin. A perfectionist, Hergé constantly reworked his artwork, and certain albums such as Tintin in the Congo or Tintin in America were redrawn to iron out the rough edges of his early work. The twenty-four albums of The Adventures of Tintin., translated into around a hundred languages, established Hergé as one of the leading figures in the world of comics. He died in Brussels on 3 March 1983, leaving Tintin and Alph-Art unfinished. His work continues to exert a considerable influence on generations of authors, from Jijé to Jacobs, including Jacques Martin and many others.