Word: comical
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...parlor game: can you name 10 famous Belgians? Belgium may be a tiny nation, and often the butt of its neighbors' jokes, but it can claim two 20th century artistic giants who would make it onto that list: Hergé - or at least his globetrotting comic-strip character Tintin - and René Magritte, the subversive surrealist painter. Both created iconic images that are recognizable the world over. And since June 2, both of them, finally, have museums of their own in their native country, dedicated to their respective contributions to the evolution of 20th century art. The museums trace...
...million, and financed by Hergé's second wife Fanny, the museum reflects Hergé's huge corpus of work, much of which has, until now, been languishing largely unseen in studios and bank vaults. The displays focus not only on Tintin, but also the many other comic-strip characters Hergé created, and the myriad influences on his work. (See pictures of Belgium...
Hergé's real name was Georges Remi; his pseudonym comes from the French pronunciation of his inverted initials, R.G. He was just 21 when he created Tintin, who made his debut in January 1929 in the children's newspaper Le Petit Vingtième. The comic strip was an instant success. Readers lapped up the stories of Tintin's adventures, which Hergé filled with quick wit and rich personalities (enthusiasts say he should be recognized as a literary great). They were illustrated in a style that Hergé perfected called ligne Claire, or clear line: simple lines...
...Tintin comic strip ran for over half a century, but Hergé maintained that his boy wonder was always just shy of his 18th birthday. Ostensibly a reporter - although he is seen filing a story in only one frame in the entire 24-book oeuvre - Tintin took on various roles as detective, Boy Scout and secret agent. As time went by, he accumulated friends: along with his astute and faithful dog, Snowy, his retinue included cantankerous sailor Captain Haddock; eccentric egghead Professor Calculus; and the doltish, bowler-hatted, doppelgänger detectives, Thomson and Thompson. And his adventures took...
...Make that nearly fruitless. Marchionne, CEO of Italy's Fiat, had sniffed an opportunity lurking by the Chrysler deathbed. Chased from the American market a generation ago by its comic reputation for poor quality, Fiat seemed an unlikely rescuer. But Marchionne entered the picture as the It boy of the auto world, having slashed costs, retooled management and refreshed styling to boost sales of the firm's cute little cars. He wanted back into the U.S., provided it didn't cost him anything. (Watch TIME's video about an optimistic Dodge dealer...