Artist: RENE HERMANN-PAUL (1864-1940)
Size: 29 1/2 x 46 3/4 in./75 x 118.7 cm
Condition: B/ Restored slight tears, primarily at vertical fold.
Printer: Publicité Wall, Paris
Reference: Ref: Affiches d’Aviation, p. 47
Key Words:

Aérodrome de Cannes. 1909.
This is the only known copy of this remarkable poster promoting an early air meet in Cannes. With both trees and birds populating the white cloud below, and a pilot’s small feet peeking out of the biplane, we realize we are looking down on the earth from the sky, the pilot mid-loop-de-loop.

Artist: W. D'ERTAHIAL
Size: 29 1/8 x 19 5/8 in./74 x 49.8 cm
Condition: B/ Restored slight tears at bottom edge.
Printer: Rundinettes, Paris
Reference: Ref: PAI-XXXVII, A50
Key Words:

Le “Wright” à Pau. 1909.
“Paul Tissandier, an experienced balloonist and Wilbur’s newest student, persuaded him to transfer operations to the warmer climate of Pau, in the south of France. Delighted with the prospect of an influx of tourists, local officials offered the perfect flying field, 165 acres of flat landscape with no trees, known as the Pont-Long. They would also provide a combination hangar and living quarters, complete with a fully equipped shop. Meals would be prepared by a gourmet chef. . . . Wilbur completed 64 flights at Pau between February 3 and March 20. . . . A parade of notables continued to make the pilgrimage to the flying field. King Alfonso XIII of Spain, an avid amateur photographer, hoped to be mistaken for a tourist. England’s Edward VII looked on as Katharine flew for the first time as a passenger. Lord Balfour . . . asked if he could join the team of workmen raising the weight back to the top of the catapult tower before a flight. Noticing another young aristocrat tugging on the line, Lord Northcliffe remarked to Orville that he was sure ‘. . . it is the only useful thing he has ever done in his life’” (Crouch & Jakab, p. 174). Little of that hullabaloo is shown in this rare d’Ertahial pochoir lithograph, simply the agreeable clash of technology and countryside.

Artist: ERNEST MONTAUT (1879-1909)
Size: 22 5/8 x 31 1/4 in./57.5 x 79.3 cm
Condition: B/ Tears, largely at edges.
Printer: Affiches Montaut & Mabileau, Paris
Reference: Ref: Looping the Loop, 26; Affiches d’Aviation, p. 51; PAI-XLII, 386
Key Words:

Première Exposition Locomotion Aérienne / Grand Palais. 1909.
“On the heels of the Rheims meeting . . . a memorable exhibition was opened to the public at the Grand Palais in Paris. Apart from a small collection previously shown at the 1908 Automobile Salon, this was the first time that aeroplanes representing the principal French manufacturers were assembled under one roof. Machines that had actually taken part in the Rheims meeting were included so that interested persons who had not been able to attend could obtain a close-up view of the Antoinette, Wright, Henry Farman biplanes, Louis Bréguet, and the diminutive Demoiselle constructed by Alberto Santos-Dumont. In the place of honor was Blériot’s Model XI with which he had conquered the English Channel. ... The huge public response left no doubt that the show would become a well-attended annual feature. The arresting poster by Montaut, the same artist who had memorialized the meeting at Rheims (see PAI-XXIX, 115), portrays in the foreground a primeval figure – seeming to be a blacksmith whose trade is hopelessly outmoded – gesturing toward those marvels in the sky. The Aviation Salon introduced by France was soon imitated in other countries, giving rise to a series of posters on the same subject” (Looping the Loop, pp. 43-44).

Artist: ERNEST MONTAUT (1879-1909)
Size: 34 3/8 x 16 1/2 in./87.2 x 42 cm
Condition: B/ Slight foxing. P.
Printer: Mabileau, Paris
Reference: Ref: PAI-XXXVII, A67
Key Words:

Wright au Camp d’Auvours. 1908.
“Having captured the attention of the world during a single week of flying at Hunaudières, Wilbur shifted to a larger field at Camp d’Auvours, 11 kilometers east of Le Mans. An artillery testing ground, it had been his first choice as a flying field. Hunaudières, surrounded by trees, a grandstand and other obstacles, was selected only when French military authorities rejected a request for the use of Camp d’Auvours. Now, with every eye focused on Wilbur, the army relented. Wilbur made his first flight at Camp d’Auvours on August 21. The atmosphere was electric. The crowds grew so large that the local military commander was forced to introduce a ticket system. Wilbur was aloft every day, breaking records as soon as he set them. . . . Wilbur was the most celebrated figure in Europe. Crowned heads of state wired their congratulations and traveled to Camp d’Auvours to witness the miracle for themselves. Some days, Wilbur remarked to his family, ‘Princes and millionaires’ were ‘thick as fleas’ at the flying ground” (Crouch & Jakab, pp. 166 & 172).

Artist: ROGER-JOSEPH JOURDAIN (1845-1918)
Size: 30 7/8 x 43 1/8 in./77.7 x 109.5 cm
Condition: C/ Expertly restored tears.
Printer: Publicité Vig, Paris
Reference: Ref: Affiches d’Aviation, p. 45
Key Words:

Aerodrome de Vichy. 1909.
Better known for his romantic oil paintings often compared to the work of John Singer Sargent (who, incidentally, painted Jourdain’s wife), Jourdain created this singular poster during his career. A daring but well-dressed woman has climbed to the top of a brick wall in order to be closer to the soaring biplanes above her at this early French airmeet.