Benzo-Moteur
Lithography on paper
Jules Chéret was often referred to as The Master of the Poster, but also in certain circles as The Father of Female Emancipation.
Born into a working-class family, he started his lithographic career at the age of thirteen and went on to design posters for Folies Bergères, Théâtre de l’Opera and the Moulin Rouge. Chéret created more than a thousand posters with a spectacular use of colour and the ability to use strong visuals instead of lengthy text to communicate an advertising message that was also accessible to an illiterate audience.
Jules Chéret’s “Chérettes” were women that no longer represented the typical uptight puritan or prostitute female imagery of the late nineteenth century but rather that of modern emancipated women, self-confident and adventurous, smoking cigarettes in public behind the steering wheel of a car. This modern woman is promoting Benzo-Moteur motor oil.
Lithographer CHAIX (Ateliers Chéret) Rue Bergére, 20, Paris (Encres Lorilleux)