Cosey Signed Art Print : The Solliès Festival

Created in 1975 and first published in Le Journal de Tintin, the series Jonathan, named in tribute to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, is the work of Cosey, a Swiss artist who was 25 years old at the time of the character’s creation — just like his hero.
Published until 2021 and comprising 17 albums by Le Lombard, the series follows a young Swiss man travelling to Tibet in search of a youthful love. Though he does not find her — she is no longer of this world — he discovers instead a country and a life he chooses to embrace.
Far more than an adventure hero, Jonathan — who maintains imaginary correspondences with his favourite authors — is an inner traveller, a witness to the world, often sparing with words yet attentive to others; a man in motion who delights in wandering and discovering.
Initially appearing as a distinctly Hitchcockian figure — an ordinary man caught in an adventure greater than himself — he soon reveals a keen moral awareness. His journeys through Tibet, Nepal, India and Pakistan are not mere exotic settings. They express a quest, a search for otherness and balance. In this sense, he resembles a modern Tintin: less a reporter than a seeker of humanity, less an investigator than a bridge between cultures.
Travel lies at the heart of the series. Yet in Cosey’s hands it is never spectacular in the conventional sense. The vast Himalayan landscapes, dusty roads, remote villages, high-altitude lakes and perched monasteries become places of silence and intimate confrontation. The landscape is not a backdrop; it is a state of mind. This contemplative dimension gives the albums a distinctive, almost meditative rhythm.
Cosey’s drawing style fully supports this atmosphere. His lines are supple, refined, sometimes fragile, yet always precise. Faces are expressive without exaggeration. Bodies inhabit space naturally. As for the landscapes, they reveal a deep familiarity with the places depicted: majestic mountains, immense skies, cold or dusty light… Each panel breathes.
Jonathan’s strength also lies in its storytelling. The narratives take their time. Silence matters as much as dialogue. Encounters shape the plot: independent women, monks, outsiders, travellers, children — among them Drolma, a kind of adopted daughter who accompanies Jonathan. Every secondary character possesses genuine depth. Cosey excels at telling human stories in which outward adventure mirrors inner transformation.
Through this mastery of narrative pacing, combined with great psychological sensitivity, the series achieves rare depth. These albums do more than entertain: they invite reflection, slowness and attentiveness.
Through Jonathan, Cosey has created a coherent, intimate and universal body of work — a travel narrative, certainly, but above all a meditation on looking: at the world, at others and at oneself.