Cycles Perfecta

What the work is

Cycles Perfecta is a poster for Perfecta bicycles, printed by F. Champenois of Paris, as the imprint at the foot of the sheet shows. The Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogues it as Rennert & Weill 81-1 and dates it 1902, while Artvee gives 1897, so sources differ on the date.

What to look at

The bicycle is less a machine than a prop: a young woman leans on the handlebars and her hair unrolls into an ornament that fills the whole picture. The lettering above sits in its own frame, so text and image never compete.

In deep zoom

Move in on the line of the hair and the folds of fabric: they show the lithographic drawing and the flat areas of colour set side by side. The printer’s imprint is at bottom centre and Mucha’s signature at lower right.