I have always been obsessed with vintage bike posters and when researching my book, The Girls Bicycle Handbook, I had the chance to dig a little deeper and find out more about the creative influences behind some of these beautiful designs.
The reason there are so many Art Nouveau bike posters is because the Art Nouveau style was the first type of artwork to be reproduced, so played a key role in the development of advertising on the late 19th Century and beginning of 20th Century. The women in them are often flying or have an otherworldly quality. I’m guessing the artists and bike companies were inspired the magical feeling of riding a bike and wanted to get this across to the public.
The Bicycle boom also coincided with the women’s liberation movement and in many of these bike posters you can sense this as the women are often in powerful, strong positions.
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