Snell American Cycles. ca. 1897.

Artist: EUGENE OGÉ (1869-1936)
Size: 32 x 47 in./81.3 x 119.3 cm
Condition: B/ Slight tears at folds.
Printer: Imp. Charles Verneau, Paris
Reference: Ref: Ogé, 242; Bicycle Posters, 23; PAI-LXII, 450
Key Words: Art Nouveau; Bicycles

Snell American Cycles. ca. 1897.
“With Spaulding and Pope leading the way, the American bicycle market became saturated in the 1890s, and in 1896 and 1897 American brands began to flood the European market. This invasion is depicted in this poster by Ogé, a designer and lithographer who had attached himself to one of France’s leading poster printers, Charles Verneau, best known for printing almost all of Steinlen’s masterpieces. Maindron is full of praise for Verneau and ‘collaborateur habituel’ Ogé. Ogé, he states, ‘est certainement un lithographe de premier ordre, un artiste de grand valeur.’ His skill as a lithographer is seen in the way he can express his message although limited to two colors: black and red... with the coachman being understandably disturbed by this new device which threatens his livelihood” (Bicycle Posters, p. 5).