Phébus, Paris – Henri Gray – 1895 – Black

Phébus, Paris – Henri Gray – 1895 – Black version

This wonderful vintage poster was illustrated by the artist Henri Gray, also known as Henri Boulanger. Gray was a prolific poster designer working regularly in many artistic fields. Starting out as an illustrator and caricaturist; his works for magazines such as Le Boulevardier, Le Boudoir, Chronique Parisienne, Paris amuses and Paris Illustré were signed with the nom-de-plume “Grivois.” In addition, his incredible output included menus, catalogues and costumes for the famous music halls, most notably those of the Folies Bergere. He naturally progressed to poster design in the 1890s under a new name, Gray.

This beautiful poster is one of his best and most famous works is this beautiful poster for Noé Boyer & Cie who were part of the Société Gladiator company. It was set up as a bicycle manufacturing company that moved towards tricycles, motorcycles and then automobiles. In 1899, in addition to its own automobile production it set up a factory in Paris to produce a new range of automobiles under the brand name Phébus. This vintage Phebus poster was created to promote the new brand. In Greek mythology the name Phebus translates to “the shining” which is considered to be the Sun. Gray has cleverly superimposed the brand name over a symbol of sun’s rays.  The postert features a semi-clad red-headed angel or protector reaching out towards a wheel. In the late 1800’s bare-breasted women were commonly used to suggest freedom and liberty, the same values the motor car would be able to offer. This is one of our favorite posters by one of our favourite poster artists. We’re not on our own! Original copies of this poster sell for more than £4000.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.