Ad for the G. Richard brand of bicycles in the French magazine “Le Rire,” No. 38, 1898. Art by Garnier.

            A classic illustration of an elegant cyclist, holding a Chinese lantern to illuminate the road in front of her as she makes her way back to Paris from a day’s outing in the Fontainebleau Forest.  Note the two feathers on top of the woman’s hat, an allegorical reference to Mercury, both the God of trade and the God of travelers.  This image in a larger format first appeared on a poster that Georges Richard commissioned when he opened a new show room in a Paris district already filled with bicycle dealerships.  [Source: Swann Auction Galleries, Poster Sale 2133, Dec. 19, 2007]

In the 1890s, bicycles were rapidly growing in popularity as a way to get around town quickly, easily, and cheaply.  A family could enjoy an outing on conjoined bicycles, with a child seat in the middle.  Improved production technologies meant that working men could afford them, and bicycles were much cheaper than horse-drawn carriages.  

Bicycles also played an important role in women’s rights.  In 1896, Susan B. Anthony said that “the bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.”  The bicycle craze effectively killed the corset while ushering “common sense dressing” and increased the mobility of women tremendously.  

Bicycling was so popular in the late 1800s that the League of American Wheelmen formed to lobby for better roads.  Soon, those roads began serving an even newer technology – cars.

Taken on: May 13, 2022

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Sets appears in: • Vintage Advertising

Groups appears in: • Signs and Posters • bicycle culture more » • the world of bicycles • Vintage Poster Art • Funny, Funky, Risque and Unusual Signs, Posters and Postcards « less

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