Bibendum turns back to the viewer with a lit cigar and a studded tyre sole in his raised hand.
Marius Rossillon, who worked under the pen name O'Galop (1867 to 1946), created the character for Michelin in 1898. Rossillon came from satirical illustration, for publications including Le Rire and Pêle-Mêle, and his Michelin posters ran from 1898 to 1911. The Semelle design, in which Bibendum displays the tyre sole that absorbs road obstacles, appeared in several variants in the early 1900s.
This one carries an "IMPORTE DE FRANCE" imprint, which points to an export edition.
On the poster
Bibendum raises a studded tyre sole against a flat cadmium red ground, a lit cigar trailing smoke into the cream upper margin. "MICHELIN" runs in bold yellow slab-serif letters across a black shadow mass. At lower left sits the imprint "IMPORTE DE FRANCE" (imported from France).
About this print
A digitally restored reproduction, printed on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art paper with pigment inks.

