May 25, 2017 - Sale 2449

Sale 2449 - Lot 99

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
R. GÉRI (DATES UNKNOWN) BUGATTI. Circa 1935.
39x24 inches, 99x61 cm. A. Michel, Strasbourg.
Condition B+ / A-: minor repaired tears, creases and restoration in margins and slightly into image. Framed.
Géri was an illustrator who focused primarily on automobile advertising from the 1930s through the 1950s. He designed pamphlets, brochures and a few posters as well, primarily working for the Ford Motor Company. His most prestigious commission was for Bugatti, the legendary manufacturer of the fastest and most luxurious vehicles of the era. While he also designed a small booklet for the company promoting a motor boat, this poster featuring one of Bugatti's autorail trains (introduced in 1933), and a Type 57 (in production from 1934-1940), is his most famous and enduring image. The vehicles and the title are shown amidst a blur of lines, imparting a sense of speed and motion to the image.