Artist: ERNEST MONTAUT (1879-1909)
Size: 46 1/4 x 63 1/4 in./117.6 x 160.6 cm
Condition: A-/ Slight stains at edges.
Printer: Affiches Montaut & Mabileau, Paris
Reference: Affiches d’Aviation, p. 50; Looping the Loop, 25; Toujours Plus Haut, p. 89; Perier, 70A; PAI-LXXXIX, 33
Key Words: Art Nouveau; Aviation

Grande Semaine d'Aviation. 1909.
“The true ancestor of the aviation poster genre can be traced to Montaut... for his portrayal of the trailblazing assembly at Reims. Soft tints in the sky indicate that sunset is near, a time of day when the wind was apt to drop and flying was considered to be safer. A svelte female spectator, back to the viewer, lifts her arm in salute to an armada of aircraft rising like a swarm of bees... The curving zebra stripes of her costume—fully consonant with an impression of motion and speed, which after all was the crux of the message delivered by the newfangled flying machine—resonate as effectively as the determined look on the face of the nearest pilot. The Grande Semaine brought together for the first time the world’s greatest fliers. Among them were Louis Blériot, Henry Farman, Léon Delagrange, Hubert Latham, count Charles de Lambert, Louis Paulhan, Roger Sommer, and the American entry, Glenn Hammond Curtiss... Parisians streamed to the event; three thousand Britons came from London by special excursion, and two thousand Americans turned up to root for the single representative of their country. Reims was a watershed in the history of flight. Aviators who had flown ‘before Reims’ were regarded as veterans compared with those who learned to fly later. It dramatically demonstrated the progress made in aviation and provided an incalculable stimulus for the design and production of aeroplanes” (Looping the Loop, p. 42). This is the larger format.