Saturday 10 August 2013

SPECULATION FOR A POSSIBLE INSPIRATION FOR THE SMURFS?


The above is a (slightly cropped, due to the size of my scanner) scan of the cover illustration of the no. 34, dated July 11, 1935, of the Turkish weekly children's magazine Afacan. These tiny dwarfs appear in several covers of Afacan between 1934-36. Most of the graphic material in these early issues of the magazine appear to originate from French sources, so there is a good chance that these illustrations might also be of French origin. If indeed so, perhaps Peyo (born in 1928) might have seen them in his early childhood?.. and the images making an impression on him in those tender ages, remaining in his memory consciously or unconsciously and partially contributing to his creation of the Smurfs? Of course, dwarves are a part of the European mythology/folklore and Peyo does not need to see these particular renditions to conceive of the smurfs, but if he had indeed seen them?

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