Toulouse-Lautrec:
La Chaîne Simpson
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THE bicycle was all the rage in Paris in the 1890s, whether for sport or leisure.
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Toulouse-Lautrec: THE bicycle was all the rage in Paris in the 1890s, whether for sport or leisure. |
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| Lautrec's poster for the bicycle chains made by the Simpson company shows a race scene involving teams of riders on machines with several saddles, as well as at least one rider cycling alone; the implication is perhaps that the Simpson chain gives one man the power of many. "L.B. Spoke" was the name of the bicycle store run by the Simpson representative in France, Louis Bouglé. This is Lautrec's second try at the commission for Bouglé, and is more successful in every way than the initial design. He not only revised the chain to an accurate scale (responding to Bouglé's objection to the first proposal) but infused the scene with the excitement of a race, complete with band playing in the infield. The first attempt depicts a training scene, while here dozens of cyclists are buzzing around the track, hunching over in keen competition, with a feeling of energy and speed that by contrast makes Jimmy Michaël in the first design appear stationary. Lautrec added to the illusion of velocity by allowing some of the wheels to disappear into invisible spins. This second poster met with Bouglé's approval. La Chaîne Simpson |
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