Original ‘Smurfs’ drawings to go up for auction

Public exhibition of original Smurf drawings by Belgian cartoonist Peyo—real name Pierre Culliford—opened in Paris Wednesday before they go under the hammer on Saturday in the first ever major auction of the artist’s work, with one piece expected to fetch as much as 120,000 euro ($167,200).

The most sought-after lot in the sale of 33 rare Peyo drawings at the Artcurial auction house on the Champs Elysee in Paris will be the black-and-white drawing for the cover of The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, the Johan and Peewit comic in which the Smurfs first appeared in 1958.

Since their creation, Smurfs—or “Schtroumpfs” as they were originally called in French—have gained international popularity. And cartoon expect Eric Leroy, of the Artcurial auction house says that this is because the loveable little creatures have universal appeal.
        
“Peyo’s stroke of genius was to have picked blue, so everyone can identify with [the Smurfs], a Chinese person as well as a European one can identify with the Smurfs, because they’re not Asian or European or American or South American, everyone can identify with Smurfs, really,” Leroy
told Reuters.

The name for the creatures came from a 1957 conversation over a meal when Peyo forgot the word for salt-cellar and asked his friend to pass him the “Schtroumpf.” The two proceeded to speak by replacing words with “Schtroumpf,” which became the way Smurfs talk, as well as providing their original name. “Schtroumpf” was translated into Dutch as “Smurf”, which was also picked up in English.

With the global success of this year’s 3D Smurf movie, which has grossed a total of half a million dollars, and years of the animated television version, Peyo’s descendants want to redirect the focus back to the drawings and highlight Peyo’s skill as a cartoonist.

“Everyone knows the Smurfs on the TV and children think that The Smurfs is a TV cartoon but it’s a comic book first and foremost, so the family wanted to pay tribute to the author, to the cartoonist, to the cartoonist’s stroke of genius, really,” said Leroy.

Over the summer, the Culliford family put on an exhibition of hundreds of Peyo’s drawings for the public to see at the same Paris location, and now Smurf fans and collectors will have the chance to get their hands on their very own original artwork.

Some of the drawings are particularly interesting as they show the artist’s corrections as well as the notes of the editors. Because neither Peyo nor his family has ever sold any of the Smurf drawings before, only very few pieces—originally gifts from the artist—have ever hit the market, adding to the buzz surrounding the auction, and the Smurf drawings have already attracted interest from collectors the world over, particularly from the U.S.A., France and Belgium.

The drawings are expected to fetch a range of prices from 5,000 to 120,000 euro ($6,970 – $167,200), with the proceeds of one of the 33 drawings going to UNICEF. The Culliford family has supported the charity before, notably in 2008 when they auctioned off 15 1.2 metre-high Smurfs    painted by celebrities, raising a combined total of 124,700 euros ($173,700). Since Peyo’s death at age 64 in 1992, his son Thierry Culliford has led the studio, continuing to produce comics under Peyo’s name.