Delaby, Hubinon, Palacios, Tillieux, Vallès and Vance Exhibition
36 rue du Louvre, 75001 Paris. Métro Louvre - Rivoli.
From Tuesday to Saturday, 10:30 am to 7 pm. Free entrance
From
26 May
to
27 Jun.
Past
The Daniel Maghen Gallery is proud to dedicate an exhibition to six classics of Franco-Belgian comic art, from May 26 to June 27, 2020, featuring the artworks of Philippe Delaby, Victor Hubinon, Antonio Hernández Palacios, Maurice Tillieux, Francis Vallès, and William Vance.
A major exhibition
This historic exhibition brings together rare originals by the great masters of comic art since the 1950s. It particularly highlights the spectacular artwork of Palacios, one of the most brilliant artists of the Spanish school. It pays tribute to this master of black and white, his explosive color palette, and his hatched line drawings through around sixty original pages from Mac Coy, his legendary 1970s western written by Jean-Pierre Gourmelen, as well as pages from Manos Kelly and El Cid. Also in the spotlight is the one and only William Vance, author of XIII, Bob Morane, Bruce J. Hawker, Bruno Brazil, Ramiro, and more. A large selection of eighty original pages, covers and illustrations from his greatest sagas will be on display, including rare originals from the Vance family, on sale for the first time, and from private collections. In the realistic style, the exhibition will also present the artwork of Francis Vallès, a worthy heir to the great classics of comic art. Nearly fifty black and white pages from his first major success, Les Maîtres de l'Orge, and pages from Rani, two historical stories by Jean Van Hamme, will be on display.
The exhibition will also feature a dozen pages by Hubinon from his Tiger Joe series, written by Jean-Michel Charlier, the legendary creators of Buck Danny, as well as pages by Philippe Delaby from his Murena series, written by Jean Dufaux. Finally, Maurice Tillieux will bring the exhibition to a close with a touch of humor, action, and mystery with a dozen pages from Gil Jourdan taken from the album and short stories Le Chinois à 2 roues, La Poursuite and Le Grand Souffle, an iconic series from Journal Spirou that showcases Tillieux's talent in both drawing and scriptwriting.
Both "Les Maîtres de l’Orge" and "Rani" are television series. In the very early 1980s, the main French-speaking public broadcasters (in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec) collaborated to co-produce television films on shared themes, and I had the pleasure of writing a few of them. A little later in that same decade, they came up with the idea of co-producing a joint series on the universal theme of beer, and I was fortunate that they liked my synopsis. Unfortunately, their fine cultural partnership imploded shortly afterwards under the emerging pressure from private channels, and the project was abandoned. But when you believe an idea is a good one, you hold on to it. And in early 1990, I began writing the comic book adaptation, which I intended for the publisher Glénat, who at the time specialised more in historical stories. It was Jacques Glénat who suggested Francis Vallès to me, who had already authored several albums for him, including "Dorian Dombre" with Jose-Louis Bocquet. Let’s gloss over our merry tour—largely fuelled by documentary research in Belgium’s leading breweries—to tell you that working with Francis was a constant pleasure, as his artwork perfectly captures the often-tense atmosphere of this brewing-family saga. The public’s verdict was spot on: 1,300,000 copies sold to date. Nor did the television industry’s belated change of heart, as the series (miraculously rediscovered?!?) by France 2 proved a huge hit with viewers. The story isn’t over yet, as a major Anglo-French-Canadian producer is planning a big-budget remake. The fate of "Les Maîtres" still has a bright future ahead of it. Rani’s fate is more conventional. First came the TV series (again on France 2), followed by the comic book series. With Francis Vallès on art, of course, but due to a lack of time, I entrusted the adaptation of the script to Didier Alcante, whose talent had blown me away in his "XIII Mystery".
Jean Van Hamme
Credits :
© Palacios, 2026