Automobile Club de France

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 1903 poster for the Automobile Club de France we can see a decorative and detailed drawing of a regal-looking Art Nouveau lady, proudly sitting on a stone throne. 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. This illustration was used to promote the 6th Exposition Internationale de L’Autombile, du Cycle et des Sports in the Grand Palais in 1903. Printing House J. Barreau, 16 Rue Littré, Paris