Bicycle Posters - part 6

 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 - 5 also.

This is part 6 of an 11-part series on bicycle posters:

c 1900s Fabrique Nationale Automobiles et Cycles (Belgium)

c 1900s Prinetti Stucchi, Milan (Italy)

1900s Cycles Gladiator (France)

1900s Excelsior & Eureka Cycles, Bayliss Thomas & Co., Coventry by George Moore (UK)

1900s L'Aiglon Cycles, Automobiles by Sim (France)

1900s Pannetton by G. Biliotti (France)

1900s The Raleigh (UK & USA)

1901 Rambler Cycles by Juan Cardona y Tío (France)

1901 Paris-Brest-Paris, Sté. La Française Cycles Diamant by Charles Brun (France) 
149.5 x 108.5 cm

1901 You Can't Beat The Cleveland Cycle (Country not found)

c1901 Bicyclette Labor by Cas Brau (France)
160 x 112 cm

c1901 Cycles Aiglon by Georges Valle (France)
140.5 x 100 cm

1902 Cycles Perfecta by Alphonse Mucha (UK)
53 x 35 cm

Alphonse (Alfons) Mucha (1860 – 1939) was a Czech painter and decorative artist born in 1860 born in the town of Ivančice, Moravia. He is best known for his luxurious poster and product designs, which encapsulate the Art Nouveau style. Contemporary interest in his work was revived in 1980 after an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.

A series on the works of Alphonse Mucha can be found in the index of this blog.

1902 Cicli Stucchi, Milano by Emilio Malerba (Italy)

1909 Cicli Stucchi, Milano by Gian Emilio Malerba (Italy)

Gian Emilio Malaria (1880-1926) was an Italian painter and illustrator. Born in Milan and studied at the Brera Academy under Cesrae Tallone and Giuseppe Mentessi. His first exhibit at the Academy was in 1906, works influenced by the Scapigliatura movement. In 1913, he was awarded the Canonica prize. In 1906 he created cover pages for "Lettura" and "Ars et Labor.” He became part of the circle of painters patronised by Margherita Sarfatti, known as the Novecento Italiano.

1902 Internationaler Sport - Club, München by Bruno Paul (Germany)

Bruno Paul (1874 -1968) was German architect, illustrator, interior designer, and furniture designer. He studied at the Munich Academy and was a founding member of the Munich Secession. After working briefly as a studio painter, he won lasting renown as an illustrator. His weekly contributions to the satirical magazine Simplicissimus between 1897 and 1906 won him international acclaim.

1902 La Touricyclette, Paris (France)
137 x 99 cm

1902 Orient Cycles (USA)
107 x 75 cm

1897 -1907 Posters by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez:

Ferdinand Misti Mifliez (1865 - 1923) worked in the Chaix (Jules Cheret's) printing plant before opening his own studio and creating many more posters, largely for bicycle and automobile firms, from 1894 to 1914. “Misti” was an accomplished painter who exhibited regularly in Paris salons, he was most proud of his poster designs. Throughout the 1890s his posters all bear the imprint "Affiches Misti." Some of his largest clients were department stores, bicycle companies and , after 1900, Les Fetes de Neuilly. His elegant and efficient style, which features beautiful stylish women as often as possible, is a standard of the fin-de-siecle renditioning.

1897 Cycles Gladiator by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez  (France)

1907 Triumph Cycles, Coventry by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez (France)

Clement Cycles et Automobiles by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez (France)

Cycles Griffon by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez  (France)

Rouxel & Dubois by Ferdinand Misti Mifliez  (France)

1903 Clément by Misti (France)

1903 Orio & Marchand Cycles by Aleardo Villa (Italy)

Aleardo Villa (1865 Ravello, Italy - 1906 Milan, Italy) is a representative of the Liberty Style, the Italian version of Art Nouveau. Well known since 1981, he specialised in portraits, especially female figures. Toward the end of his life, he devoted himself to advertising art and created posters for a Milanese publishing house.

c1903 Clément Cycles & Automobiles by Louis Charles Bombled (France)

c1903 Cycles & Automobiles Clément by Loius Charles Bombled (France)
94 x 128.5

Louis Charles Bombled (1862 Chantilly, France - 1927 Oise, France) was the son of the Dutch painter Karel-Frédérik Bombled. He worked for the newspapers L'Illustration, Le Monde Illustré, Le Petit Journal La Caricature, Le Chat Noir, Le Journal des voyages, and was also the illustrator of the works of Georges Courteline, Jules Michelet, Walter Scott, and Fenimore Cooper among others. He also made a series for the Petit Théâtre d'Ombres of paintings on The Conquest of Algeria.

c1903 Velo-Fabrik Liestal by Melchior Annen (Switzerland)

c1904 Atala by Aldo Mazza (Italy

1904 Dawis by Aldo Mazza (Italy

Milanese artist Aldo Mazza (1880-1964) is known mostly as an illustrator. He collaborated during his early years with various publishing houses and periodicals (such as weekly magazines “Guerin Meschino” and “L’Illustrazione Italiana”, and daily newspaper “Il Secolo”). He created illustrations for novels and drew illustrations, vignettes, posters for advertisement, propaganda, and theatre show, postcards and calendars.

Mazza also always cultivated a passion for traditional painting, inspired by realist style, with interesting developments in colourist research. His works were put on display in Brera’s Fine Arts Academy, Milan’s Galleria Pesaro, and the first International Exhibition of Colonial Art held in Rome.

1905 Cicli Maino, Alessandria by M. Leporati (Italy)

1905 Cycles Cottereau by V. Canale (France)
118.6 x 161.4 cm

1906 Cycles & Motocycles Aiglon b V. Canale (France)

c1905 Cycles Soleil (France)
121.99 x 88.9 cm

c1905 Peugeot (France)

1906 Cycles Excelsior 140 x 111 cm (France)

1906 Cycles Carmen by Maurice Marodon (France)
118.2 x 79.2 cm

c1910 La Francaise Diamant by Maurice Marodon (France)

Cycles Brilliant by Maurice Marodon (France)
148 x 105 cm

1907 Simplex Amsterdam (Netherlands)

1908 Ce Michelin est Indechirable by Maxime Fraikin (France)
119 x 79.5 cm

1908 Frera Biciclette by Boccioni (Italy)

1908 La Bicicletta Bianchi (Italy)

c1908 Cycles Jussy & Cie (France)

c1908 Swift Steyr (Austria)

1909 Biciclette Motociclette Vetturette Società Anonima Frara (Italy)

1909 Officine Türkheimer per Automobili e Velocipedi (Italy)

c1909 Dupré by Pierre Gonzague-Privat (France)
157.6 x 112 cm

c1910 Cycles J.B. Louvet Pneus Dunlop by Pierre Gonzague-Privat  (France)

1910 Cycles Aiglon (France)

1910 Gladiator by Gaston Noury (France)

Cycles Chevreuil Jules Lamy by Gaston Noury (France)
80 x 62 cm

Gaston Noury (1866 Normandy - 1936 Normandy) was a French painter, poster artist, illustrator, cartoonist and theatrical costume designer, working in Le Havre and Paris, where he settled around 1889. His prolific output covered a wide variety of subjects and his images were used for posters, books, postcards, songbooks, genre scenes and fashion plates. He provided illustrations for magazines such as La Chronique parisienne, Saint-Nicolas, Gil Blas illustré, Journal amusant, and Les Hommes d'aujourd'hui.

c1910-20 Peugeot (France)