Dec 16, 2009 - Sale 2200

Sale 2200 - Lot 31

Price Realized: $ 2,880
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
EUGÈNE GRASSET (1841-1917) MARQUE GEORGES RICHARD / CYCLES & AUTOMOBILES. 1899.
59x43 inches, 150x110 cm. Vaugirard G. de Malherbe et Cie., Paris.
Condition B+: losses along edges; repaired tears, creases, staining and abrasions in margins and image; restoration along vertical and horizontal folds.
This visual symphony in brown, beige and orange is one of Grasset's classic images. Although advertising a bicycle, the product is barely visible. Rather, a pensive women, clad in a medieval-style dress, is holding the handlebars in one hand, and a four-leaf clover (the company's logo) in the other. The background is filled with pastel-colored decorative elements that appear to represent a road, the sky and a nearby stream, all surrounding the typography designed by Grasset. It is a quiet, contemplative design that skillfully integrates Art Nouveau style into the commercial format of a poster. DFP-II 415, Bicycle Posters 21, Arwas p. 34, Weill, 41, Wember 373, Berthon & Grasset p. 34, Gold 78, Ailes p. 119.