Vintage Poster Archives
Jean Louvet Cycles c.1920 | Mich Cycling-Sport Poster
Jean Louvet Cycles c.1920 | Mich Cycling-Sport Poster
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A caricatured jockey in a white jersey and cobalt-blue sash leans forward over a gold-framed racing bicycle, a galloping horse rendered as a flat orange silhouette filling the cadmium-red field behind him. The tagline, "Le Pur Sang des Vélos", the thoroughbred of bicycles, and the invitation to note the jockeys who ride it make the commercial argument with economy and wit. The Cycles Louvet "Burapton" trademark badge sits top-right; the signature "Mich" marks the lower field.
Designed by Michel Liebeaux (1881–1923), poster artist and caricaturist known in the trade as Mich. Active from around 1904 in Paris, Liebeaux built a practice around the cycling and motoring worlds, contributing regularly to the sports daily L'Auto and producing posters for Hutchinson tyres, Citroën, and multiple cycle manufacturers. The horse-and-jockey conceit, placing the bicycle in the role of racing thoroughbred, endorsed by the professionals who chose it, is representative of his approach: a clear visual argument delivered through a single character in motion. The Publicité Wall, Paris imprint at the base places production in the city's established commercial print trade.
Reproduced on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper using pigment-based archival inks. The bold, flat graphic approach and the saturated red and orange palette hold at large scale with particular force.
Resonates with collectors of early French cycling culture and commercial illustration, and with anyone drawn to the period when cycle manufacturers competed as fiercely in graphic design as on the track.
