The Simpson Chain

Description

This poster represents Lautrec’s final design for an advertisement for a bicycle lever chain recently invented by the London manufacturer W. S. Simpson. Competitive cyclist Constant Huret rides a bicycle equipped with the device, speeding on to victory with its help. This poster sports a much more dynamic composition than the artist’s previous attempt, as well as a more realistic depiction of bicycles, despite the four- and five-seaters in the background.

The Simpson Chain

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

1896

Accession Number

180664

Medium

Color brush and spatter lithograph (poster) on tan wove paper with lettering by another hand

Dimensions

Image: 81.5 × 119 cm (32 1/8 × 46 7/8 in.); Sheet, sight: 85.2 × 123 cm (33 9/16 × 48 7/16 in.)

Classification

print

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of the Gecht Family