Hugo Pratt. Horizon Lines, Musée des Confluences, Lyon: 7 April 2018-24 March 2019

Corto Maltese has been called a truly “literary” series of comics. The man behind these tales of adventure and foreign travel is Hugo Pratt (1927-1995), an Italian cartoonist.

This ongoing exhibition explores Corto Maltese as Pratt’s masterpiece. It asks how Pratt’s globetrotting hero reflected and influenced Pratt’s own travels. In keeping with this theme, various artefacts collected by Pratt over his travels will also be on display, including weapons(!), ornaments, and works of art.

As art exhibitions go, Horizon Lines is pretty unusual. Its focus isn’t a painter, sculptor, or another “traditional” kind of artist, but a very contemporary one. At the same time, Pratt radiates from the past: he advanced and pioneered a medium which became widespread in the decades that followed. His style is visibly historical, some way away from that of Marvel or DC Comics superheroes. By writing “literary” storylines, he drew on a centuries-old tradition of stories and novels.

Horizon Lines then is historical and modern in equal measure. For those not so keen on walking round a gallery, it avoids the perhaps overwhelming, excessive atmosphere of a traditional or a cutting-edge modern exhibition.

It has the added advantage that you can go read Corto Maltese afterwards: a chance to reflect on what you’ve seen, which is not something you can do so easily with a hung painting or giant modern sculpture. And a comic is likely to be more enjoyable and accessible while you do that.

Jonny Elling

Musée des Confluences

86 Quai Perrache, 69002 Lyon