Organised chronologically and thematically, Astérix in Britain illustrates the course of Goscinny’s life and career as an illustrator and writer, and explores some of his most important artistic collaborations with cartoonists like Albert Uderzo, Maurice De Bevere (‘Morris’), Jean-Jacques Sempé and Jean Tabary.
Yet despite the impressive figures of Goscinny’s success, the story of the man himself and the scale of his work have been underexplored until now. Goscinny’s books have sold 500 million copies worldwide, and his work has been translated into 150 languages, with 100 film adaptations.
#Asterix britain series#
The series was an instant hit with readers and remains one of the world’s most popular comic creations. In 1959, in the first issue of Pilote, Goscinny, with Albert Uderzo, released his most famous creation, Astérix, which follows the adventures of a village of indomitable Gauls as they resist Roman occupation in the year 50 BC. It was following his return to Europe that Goscinny founded the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote and launched his career as a cartoonist. He spent his childhood in Argentina, before moving to New York as a young man. Over 100 items gathered from around the world are displayed together for the first time in the UK, including original artworks, scripts and storyboards as well as Goscinny’s own tools, sketchbooks and family photographs.īorn in Paris in 1926, Goscinny was a child of Jewish emigrants from Poland and Ukraine. Jewish Museum London presents a major retrospective exhibition on the life and work of René Goscinny (1926–1977), the ingenious writer of beloved comics such as Astérix and Lucky Luke, an artist who revolutionised the genre and dissolved the divide between learned and popular culture. Self-portrait at drawing table by René Goscinny, 1948 © Anne Goscinny