ART & ARTISTS: Bicycle Posters

Friday 2 July 2021

Bicycle Posters - part 10

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 - 9 also.

This is part 10 of an 11-part series on bicycle posters:

c1929 Peugeot Cycles Motos (France)
227 x 77 cm

1930 Cycles Automoto by Lajos Márton (France)
120 x 80.2 cm

Lajos Márton(1891-1952) was a Hungarian artist who spent some time in Paris in the late 1920s and early 1930s working for DAM, the advertising agency owned by the Damour Brothers. The brothers also owned the magazine Vendre, which they used as a vehicle to tirelessly promote modern graphic design and advertising. All of Márton's posters, in pure French Art Deco style, were for bicycle, car or motorcycle companies. In 1928 he designed his first poster for Peugeot motorcycles which was rendered in a manner similar to Charles Loupot's dynamic style.

1930 Cycles Marcot by L. Husson (France)

1930 Moi aussi j'ai une Peugeot (France)

1930 NSU (Germany)

1930 Phillips All-British Quality Bicycles (UK)

1930 une Peugeot roule bien (France)
118 x 78 cm

c1930 Rudge, Your Passport to Travel (UK)
33 x 74.9 cm

c1930 Dunlop (France)
118 x 78 cm

1930s Triumph Cycles by Guy Lipscombe (UK)
73.5 x 49 cm

Guy Lipscombe (1893 - 1937) was a painter of genre and motoring scenes and was one of the earliest artists specialising in automotive subject matter. In 1903, Lipscombe took charge of the art department of the popular British magazine, The Motor. Ultimately, he became a world famous illustrator and his works now hang in every important Automobile Museum in the world. Lipscombe began to exhibit in London from 1908 to 1937 at The Royal Academy, The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Abbey Gallery, The Dudley Gallery and The London Salon. He also exhibited at The Walker Gallery in Liverpool.

1930s Triumph Cycles (UK)
152.4 x 101 cm

1930s Cicli Sardegna (Italy)

c 1930s La Bicyclette Inoxydable Peugeot (France)
121.9 x 80 cm

c1930 Rudge Travel at Leisure (UK)
33 x 74.9 cm

1931 Cycles Peugeot by Roger Pérot (France)

Roger Pérot (1908 - 1976) French draughtsman. Illustrator and poster artist. Pérot created the famous poster for corsets: “Le Furet. le rêve de la femme” and for tobacco: “Offrez les tabacs de la régie française.”

1932 Alcyon - André Leducq by Jean Alexander Josse (France)
116.2 x 75.6 cm

1933 Terrot Cycles, Dijon by V. Dumay (France)

c1935 Cycles Brillant by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre (France)

A.M. Cassandre was born in 1901, in Kharkov, Ukraine, of French parents. He eventually settled in Paris in 1915 and studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the independent studio of Lucien Simon and l’Académie Julian. Throughout his life, he pursued many career paths and was well-known as a graphic designer, painter, poster artist in the Art-Deco style, and stage designer.

c1935 NSU Fahrräder (Germany)

1937 Favor Cycles & Motos by Jacques & Pierre Bellenger (France)

1938 Rudge-Whitworth, Britain's Best Bicycle (UK)

c1938 Santé, Joie, Liberté! Cycles Griffon (France)

c1940 Biciclette Frera by Gino Boccasile (Italy)

Gino Boccasile was born in Bari, Italy in1901. Trained as an illustrator he moved to Milan in 1925 and worked at the Mauzan-Morzenti Agency. Over the next few years he produced posters and illustrated fashion magazines. He spent time in Buenos Aires and Paris before opening his own agency, ACTA. During this period he produced illustrations for several publications.

A supporter of Benito Mussolini, Boccasile produced propaganda material for the government. In 1945 at the end of WW2 Boccasile was arrested and imprisoned. He was later tried for crimes committed during the war. Although he was acquitted, he had trouble getting work as an illustrator. However, he eventually set up his own agency in Milan.

1940s Raleigh (UK)

1947 Championnat du Monde Cyclistes (France)
80 x 53 cm

1949 Cycles Mondia (Switzerland)

1950 Velos Cosmos by Maeder (Switzerland)

c 1950s Rudge Cycle Co. Ltd. (UK)

1950s Cycles Gitane by Ryland (France)

1950s Raleigh The All-Steel Bicycle (UK)

c1960 Raleigh The All-Steel Bicycle (UK)

1952 Championnat du Monde de Cross Cyclo-Pédestre (Switzerland)

c1952 Cycles Peugeot (France)

c1955 Terrot by V. Dumay (France)

c1960 Velo Solex by René Ravo (French 1904-1998) France)
120 x 78 cm

n.d. Bury Cycles by 'Bernard' (Belgium)

n.d. Ciclo Atala (Italy)

n.d. Construction Générale des Cycles Liége (France)

n.d. Cosmopolis Cyclos by Adrià Gual

Adrià Gual i Queralt (1872 Barcelona–1943) was a Catalan playright and theatre businessman and a pioneer of cinema in Barcelona. He was also one of the leading graphic artists of Modernism, emphasising their posters.