?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
HENRI BÉHEL (DATES UNKNOWN) GEORGES RICHARD / CYCLES & AUTOMOBILES. Circa 1900. 53 1/2x38 1/4 inches, 136x97 1/4 cm. L. Galland. Condition A-: minor repaired tears at edges; minor creases and abrasions in margins and image. Georges Richard was an early pioneer in the automotive industry, but he began by manufacturing bicycles. Also an innovator in the field of advertising, he relied heavily on posters to help sell his products, employing some of the best artists of the era including Pal, Grasset, H. Gray and others. Around 1900, he commissioned a poster from Henri Béhel, an otherwise unknown artist. The poster exists in two versions featuring the same image but different text, and marks a turning point in Richard's commercial strategy. This copy, the first of the two, reads "Cycles et Automobiles;" the later version reads "Automobiles et Cycles," indicating that the company was shifting focus and placing cars at the forefront of the marketing effort. In 1902, Richard partnered with the engineer Henri Brasier, and the two began producing award-winning cars under the brand name Richard-Brasier. This image is a classic turn-of-the-century rendition of a woman being chauffeured through the countryside. The four leaf clover was the emblem of the Georges Richard Company. 1st Salon Automobile 11.
