(Brussels) An original drawing by Albert Uderzo dating from 1963 is to be auctioned on Sunday in Brussels, despite opposition reaffirmed on Thursday by the widow and daughter of the creator of Asterix, who maintain that the work was stolen.
This is an original cover drawing of Asterix and Cleopatra, a 32×17 cm gouache, estimated to be worth between 400,000 and 500,000 euros ($587,000 and $734,000).
The work was sold by the son of a man who became its owner more than 50 years ago “following a donation made by Albert Uderzo,” assures the Millon auction house, which decided to maintain the sale despite controversy.
Because the problem is that Sylvie Uderzo, the daughter of the designer who died in 2020, “contests the ownership” of this board, held according to her without “any certificate” or written mention from her father.
Sylvie Uderzo last month instructed French lawyer Orly Rezlan to file a complaint with the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. The complaint was filed on November 27 for “concealment of breach of trust or theft,” said Me Rezlan.
Asked by AFP on Thursday, the prosecution was not able to respond immediately on the follow-up given to the complaint.
“Any current or future owner or holder of this work is likely to be prosecuted for receiving stolen goods,” the lawyer insisted on Thursday, saying she was “surprised” that the sale was not suspended.
“During his lifetime, Albert Uderzo publicly stated that he would oppose the sale of any drawing that did not include his dedication, adding this, regarding given plates, “you bring it to me, I will dedicate it to you” », underlined Orly Rezlan.
She specified that she was acting on behalf of Sylvie, but also of Ada Uderzo, the widow of the designer.
The “non-dedication” argument is brushed aside by Millon Belgique, a subsidiary of a century-old auction company founded in Paris and which claims to be a reference in the world of comics.
“The reason for opposition expressed by the Uderzo family according to which an original not autographed by Albert Uderzo would necessarily be the result of theft does not stand up to legal analysis,” indicated the firm, criticizing “a simple petition from principle”.
According to Arnaud de Partz, general director of Millon Belgium, “many other unsigned pieces (by Uderzo) have already been put up for sale officially, in public sale.”
To prove his good faith, the manager produced a copy of a black and white photo in which we see the man presented as the purchaser of the drawing sharing a meal at the table of the Uderzo couple, in the garden of a Norman hotel in the late 1960s.
“We showed this photo to Sylvie Uderzo to show her that the seller’s father knew her father well,” argued Mr. de Partz.
Huge success at the cinema, with nearly 25 million admissions worldwide for Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), the adventures of the Gaul in Egypt were firstly a comic book album.
On the front page drawing, Uderzo parodies the poster for the 1963 Hollywood production Cleopatra, at the time the most expensive film in history. Uderzo’s Cleopatra takes the same pose as Elizabeth Taylor, Asterix replaces Julius Caesar played by Rex Harrison and Obélix Marc Antoine, played by Richard Burton.
In recent years, original comic books have attracted an ever-larger and more wealthy audience of collectors, explaining the surge in prices.
In February, an original drawing by Hergé created in 1942 for the cover of Tintin in America was sold in Paris for 2.16 million euros ($3.2 million).
In certain sales, such as that of the cover of Lotus Bleu in 2021, the rights holders of the designer have questioned the method of acquisition of the work, without necessarily going so far as to take legal action.
