RENÉ VINCENT (1879-1936) PEUGEOT. 1919. 63x47 1/4 inches, 160x120 cm. Draeger, Paris. Condition B+: minor restoration along vertical and horizontal folds; repaired tears and creases in margins. A well-to-do member of the boureoisie, René Vincent was interested in automobiles from the moment they first appeared on Parisian streets. As a poster artist, he worked for some of the most prestigious brands, including Salmson, Voisin, Bugatti and Peugeot in the 1920s. Vincent mostly focused on the more glamorous, stylish side of the automobile and the beautiful people who drove them. In this, his only racing image, Vincent pays tribute to Peugeot's pre-World War I racing glory and the famous driver G. Boillot (who was killed in a dog fight during the war). In 1912 and 1913, a Peugeot successfully won both the Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France and the Indianapolis 500 in America, as well as setting a speed record in Brooklands in England. This is an unusual image for Vincent in that it is tremendously dynamic (the majority of his images are static), and that he uncharacteristically employs the diagonal to express this dynamism. Auto Posters p. 26, 1er Salon de l'Affiche Automobile 46.
