?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
FERDINAND LUNEL (1857-1933) ROUXEL ET DUBOIS. Circa 1895. 38 3/4x53 inches. Charles Verneau, Paris. Condition B+: restoration along vertical and horizontal folds; discoloration in image. In the 1890s bicycles were revolutionizing society. They were so popular that, from the largest to the smallest, the manufacturers were competing for the public's attention, money and market share. Consequently bicycles companies proved to be the biggest client for the burgeoning poster industry in the 1890s. In order to differentiate their products in the eye of the public, bicycle manufacturers relied on the creativity and innovation of posterists. The result is an incredible gallery of exotic, unique advertisements of women, policemen, bandits, medieval knights, monkeys, Indians, cow-boys and Arabs. There seemed to be no limit to the imagination of designers, even outer space inspired a few creations; this being one of at least three known space-themed bicycle posters from the era. Maybe because of the two-name company, Lunel chose a to depict a tandem bicycle cruising through the universe. At the end of the 19th century with the French imagination gripped by the fantastic voyages of Jules Verne, and the absurd humor of Alfred Jarry (an avid cyclist who used cycling in his play Le Surmale<>), this kind of image would certainly have struck a chord in the collective psyche. Regardless of its context the image is eye-catching and well balanced. The kind of work that could be expected from Lunel who was a professional illustator, with work in Chat Noir<>, Le Figaro<> and Le Rire<> to his credit. La Petite Reine, 45, Bicycle, 29, Maindron p. 87, Reims, 829.
