5me Salon de L’Automobile du Cycle et des Sports 1902

Privat Antoine Théodore Livemont (alias Henri Privat-Livemont) was a Belgium Art Nouveau painter-decorator who was well known for his posters. He was also responsible for much of the sgraffiti (a painting technique that is used for decorating walls) on Brussels Art Nouveau houses. He studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratives in Saint-Josse-ten-Node and from 1883 in Paris, where he also worked for the studios of Lemaire, Lavastre & Duvignaud as a decorative painter. In 1889 Privat-Livemont returned to Brussels where he became a poster designer, cartoonist and correspondent for “Le Monde Illustré” and “La Réforme”, and a teacher of design, ornament and figure at the école Industrielle de Schaerbeek. In this poster for the Automobile Club de France, 5th Automobile Salon of 1902 in Paris we can see a decorative and precise drawing of a regal-looking Art Nouveau goddess, proudly sitting at the steering wheel of the latest open-air automobile. According to the side panel, bicycles, boats and hot air balloons were also on view. Privat-Livemont had a tendency to idealize women and it has been said that he was inspired by Alfons Mucha, but Privat-Livemont was known to use more vibrant colours. Printing House J. Barreau, 16 Rue Littré, Paris