ART & ARTISTS: Bicycle Posters

Monday 21 June 2021

Bicycle Posters - part 5

Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century in Europe, and by the early 21st century, more than 1 billion were in existence at a given time. These numbers far exceed the number of cars, both in total and ranked by the number of individual models produced. They are the principal means of transportation in many regions.

The safety bicycle was developed in 1894, and this allowed women the momentous occasion to finally cycle on their own. Advertisers were quick to realise that if women began riding bicycles, then their marketing tactics would have to adapt to increase sales. This proved to be a key moment of transformation: female consumers needed to see themselves in advertising, and the poster art obliged them. For the first time ever, women were given a key element to attaining independence—the bicycle, and all the roving possibilities that entailed—and posters emboldened this new assertion of power. Female cyclists were depicted as goddesses, warriors, angels, enchantresses, and arbiters of their own desires. In posters, the women were in charge.

Posters continued their work of appealing to both female and male consumers. Their depictions of powerful goddesses could inspire female audiences, but they could also be made attractive to men. In this way, advertisers could sell the idea of machines to women and also sell the idea of women using machines to male audiences—a double marketing whammy.

For more information on bicycle posters see part 1, and for earlier examples see parts 1 - 4 also.

This is part 5 of an 11-part series on bicycle posters:

c1899 A. Dutheil et Cie. Manufacture de Bicyclettes Pieces Détachées et Accessoires by Laurent Corrois (France)

c1899 American Crescent Cycles by Frederick Winthrop Ramsdell (USA)
153.6 x 103.5

Frederick Winthrop Ramsdell (1865 Manistee, Michigan - 1916) was an American artist, best known for the above poster advertising American Crescent Cycles. He studied at the Art Students League of New York under James Carroll Beckwith and later in Paris under R. Collin.. His work was shown at the Paris Salon between 1891 and 1898. He spent some years in France and Italy before returning to the States, and settling in Connecticut. Ramsdell became a member of the Impressionist Lyme Art Colony in 1907, and the Lyme Art Association, exhibiting with them between 1907 and 1915.

c1899 Le Centaure by Schmidt (Belgium)

c1899 La Française by Maurice Marodon (France)
147.7 x 107.2 cm

c1900 Cycles Brillant by Maurice Marodon (France)
148 x 105 cm

La Francaise Diamant by Maurice Marodon (France)

c1899 Peugeot Les Fils de Peugeot Frères (France)
153 x 100.5 cm

1900 Cycles Barre by Christopher Courtois (France)

1900 Cycles Humber by Bresster (UK & France)

1900 Canadian Cycles Massey Harris by E. Célos (France)

Cycles Strock by E. Célos (France)

1900 Le Velo Rapid-Triumph by Charles Liozu (France)

1900 Paris 1900 : 3 Grand Prix by Emile Dupuis (France)

Emile Dupuis (1877 -1958) is noted for his postcard series on WWI soldiers.

1900 Raleigh Cycles (France)

1900 Rudge La Deesse by Peter Alfred Gross (France)

Peter Alfred Gross (1849–1914) was an American landscape painter known primarily for his French seascapes and countrysides.Gross was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in theLehigh Valley region of the United States. Most of his career (1874–1914) was spent living and painting in France, where he also studied with Edmond Marie Petitjean. He exhibited at the Paris Salon and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

c1900 A. Sanromá Biciclettas (Spain)

c1900 Adler-Räder (Germany)

c1900 Cycles Cottereau by Ludwig Markous (France)
161.4 x 118.5 cm

c1900 Cycles Hirondelle St. Étienne by Narcisse Vivien (France)
138 x 106 cm

c1900 Cycles la Gracieuse & Gloria (France)

c1900 Cycles Peugeot by Ernest Vulliemin (France)
157 x 117 cm

Ernest Vulliemin (1862 Lausanne, Switzerland - 1902 Dinan, France) Vulliemin was a Swiss painter, illustrator and master draftsman. He also designed furniture, wallpapers, fabrics, and tapestries as well as ceramics and jewellery.

c1900 Cycles Sirius, Sirius Société Anonyme.
Doos-Nuremberg (Germany)

c1900 Deutsche Triumph-Fahrrad-Werke A.G. (Germany)

c1900 Dunlop bicycle tyres (France)
107 x 74.7 cm

c1900 Dürkopp bicycles (Germany)

c1900 Eldredge C.W. Miller by M. Duizolle (France)

c1900 Ferd Schönfeld, Zurich. V (Switzerland)

c1900 Gladiator by Paul Gervais (France)

Paul-Jean-Louis Gervais (7 September 1859 – 11 March 1944) was a French painter who was fashionable around the end of the 19th century. He is known for his sensuous paintings of nude women. He was teaching at the Académie Julian in 1887. In 1891he won the Prix du Salon.

c1900 Joh. Puch & Comp. (Austria)

c1900 Rochet & Schneider (France)

c1900 Puch-Rad (Austria)

c1900 Prinetti Stucchi (Italy)

c1900 Pneus Férres Gallus Pour Cycles et Autos
by Yvonne Brudo (France)
64.7 x 49.5 cm

Yvonne Brudo was a woman painter born in Paris, and who studied with Fernand Imbert and with Jules Adler. She exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, where she received honourable mentions and medals in the 1920s.