| Creator | Jules Chéret |
| Printing year | 1900 |
| Sheet size (cm) | 122×88 |
| Printing technique | Lithograph |
| Printer | Chaix, Paris |
| Condition | A- |
| Asking price | 0 CHF |
| Categories | Cars | Bikes | Racing |
With “Benzo-Moteur”, Jules Chéret (1836 – 1932) returned to top form after his peak years around 1890 and produced an outstanding work. One reason was likely that Chéret found himself dealing with a product for which there was hardly a market before the turn of the century and for which virtually no one – and certainly not a master of Chéret’s caliber – had ever advertised: gasoline.
It is surprising that in his work, the ladies are driving while the gentleman in the background sits with his hands in his lap. After all, driving the first automobiles – despite Bertha Benz – was a man’s job. Chéret, however, was always concerned with creating the most attractive and, in the best sense, striking imagery. Women behind the wheel achieved the desired effect.
Chéret, a trained printer and lithographer, is the undisputed father of the modern poster. It was he who, using a process he developed after years of tinkering, imbued the still-monotonous advertising posters that had emerged in the wake of industrialization with vibrant colors – and at a cost that remained economical. Furthermore, he was one of the very first to integrate type into the image, using it as part of the motif, and opted for a flat rather than a detailed representation. In this way, he banished the bleakness from posters and ushered in the era of the “gallery of the street”.
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