ART & ARTISTS: Bicycle Posters

Wednesday 30 June 2021

Bicycle Posters - part 9

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 - 8 also.

This is part 9 of an 11-part series on bicycle posters:

1920s Adler Fahrräder (Germany)

1926 Adler Fahrräder by Ludwig Hohlwein (Germany)

Ludwig Hohlwein (1874 Wiesbaden, Berchtesgaden - 1949) There were two schools of ‘Gebrauchsgrafik’ (Advertising Art) in Germany at the time Hohlwein was active, North and South. Hohlwein's high tonal contrasts and a network of interlocking shapes made his work instantly recognisable. Poster historian Alain Weill has commented that "Hohlwein was the most prolific and brilliant German posterist of the 20th century... Beginning with his first efforts, Hohlwein found his style with disconcerting facility. It would vary little for the next forty years…) By 1925, he had already designed 3000 different advertisements.

Note: A series on Ludwig Hohlwein can be found in the index of this blog.

Adler (Germany)

1926 Cosmos Fahrräder by Carl Scherer (Germany)

c1930 Cycles Cosmos by Carl Scherer (Germany)

Carl Wendolin Scherer (1890 - 1953). Scherer's creative work was primarily influenced by the 1900s and 1910s. The first major Post-impressionism movement in the early years of the twentieth century is generally considered to be the Fauves, a group for whom intense, other-worldly colours and vibrant brushstrokes were a key component of painting, and who counted Henri Matisse among their numbers.

1926 Patria By Robert Engels, German artist 1866-1926 (Poster:Austria)
92 x 46 cm

1926 Thomann Cycles - Motos (France_

1926-1980 Vuelta Ciclista a Catalunya & Ciclista a Catalunya España:

Vuelta Ciclista a Catalunya (Tour of Catalonia) and Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) are annual multi-stage bicycle races primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Along with the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta makes cycling's prestigious, three-week-long Grand-Tours.