La Chaîne Simpson – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1896
€1.250
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND MODERN CYCLING – LA CHAÎNE SIMPSON, 1896/1900
“La Chaîne Simpson”, celebrated cycling poster designed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1896 for the Simpson bicycle chain. Four-colour lithograph, here in the reduced edition published by Imprimerie Chaix in 1900. Signed “HTL 96” in the lower right of the image and with the embossed stamp of Les Maîtres de l’Affiche – Imprimerie Chaix in the margin. Size (sheet) approx. 28.6 × 39.4 cm; image approx. 22.9 × 32 cm.
In the foreground, the French cycling champion Constant Huret (1870–1951) is shown bent low over his handlebars. Immediately ahead of him rides a quintuplette, a five-seater bicycle, here serving as a pacer. On the rearmost saddle sits the well-known French racing cyclist Lisette Marton, one of the stars of women’s track cycling in the 1890s and likewise associated with Simpson. At the upper left, two more five-seater bicycles race around the track.
In the middle ground, two gentlemen watch the race. On the left is the writer and sports enthusiast Tristan Bernard, and on the right Louis Bouglé, better known as L.B. Spoke, the French representative of the Simpson chain.
Through his friend Tristan Bernard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) became closely involved with the world of cycling and the Parisian velodromes around 1895. In June 1896 he travelled to London with a team of cyclists, who took part in a race organised by Louis Bouglé to promote the Simpson chain.
The result was one of Lautrec’s most compelling representations of modern cycling, reflecting the new late-nineteenth-century fascination with speed, technology and sport.
The original poster was printed by Chaix in 1896 in the large format of 87 × 123 cm. Four years later, the same publisher included the design in Les Maîtres de l’Affiche, the celebrated series in which the most important posters of the Belle Époque were issued in reduced format for collectors.
Price: Euro 1.250,- (incl. frame)
