The professional racer shown here in training is Jimmy Michaël, whom Bouglé managed. Although Lautrec left the lithograph unfinished, he issued an edition of two hundred, no doubt believing that a market for the print existed among Michaël's fans.

Following Dunlop's invention of the pneumatic tire in 1889, competitive cycling became the most fashionable sport in Paris. Its rise in popularity was stimulated by the cycle manufacturing business, which financed race tracks and supported a new sporting press in specialized magazines and news columns.

By the mid-1890s, cycling champions had become popular heroes, and the races at the Vélodrome Buffalo and the Vélodrome de la Seine were favorite places to go on Sunday afternoons. Lautrec went often in the company of Tristan Bernard, the author and playwright who had succumbed to cyclomania and become manager of the Buffalo and editor of Le Journal des Vélocipédistes. In 1895 Lautrec produced several lithographs set at the track, including a portrait of his friend Bernard. These are what led to his commission to design a poster advertising Simpson bicycle chains.

La Chaîne Simpson (rejected design)
1896; Desloge 104; W P25; D 359
Lithograph in olive green ink. 31 1/2 x 47 1/4 inches.
Artist's monogram lower left.
Gift of the Baldwin M. Baldwin Foundation, 1987:72

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