“It’s a very unusual poster and has turned up only a handful of times,” said Patrick Bogue of UK poster specialist saleroom Onslows. “[It’s] probably not the most high-impact image but it is one of his earliest commercial posters and scarce.”
The artist Bogue is referring to is AM Cassandre, one of the most successful poster designers of the Art Deco era whose French travel posters are world renowned, along with his many commercials designs for luxury companies. The Cycles Brilliant poster at Onslows was one of four classic but rarely seen Cassandre posters offered for sale on behalf of a private collector. “We rated that poster as probably being the most important item in the group – but not necessarily the most valuable – because of its appeal,” Bogue told UK trade newspaper Antiques Trade Gazette. “Even in the catalogue raisonne on Cassandre posters it doesn’t appear in colour, they only have a black and white photograph of it, that’s how rare it is.”
Printed in Paris in 1925 by Hachard & Cie, Cycles Brilliant sold for a mid-estimate $23,600. It was pipped for highest price at the auction by a Triplex poster that made its top estimate at $29,400. The Triplex brand was formed in 1923 when Ford Motor Company combined with Pilkington glass to produce safety glass; Cassandre’s Art Deco lithograph for the brand was designed in 1930.
The artist was born Adolphe Mouron, but used the pseudonym AM Cassandre for his working life. He was not only a poster designer; he also designed typefaces that he believed would give advertising a more modern typography – the YSL monogram remains probably one of his most famous works – and he was a highly innovative stage designer.
