Lithograph on paper Louis Maitrejean was a French impressionist, modern artist and illustrator. Here he introduces Magondeaux lighting (eclairage) as a devilish figure dressed in red, on a gas cylinder, against a pitch black background. The figure of the devil casts an enormous bright light out of the black night. The contrasts are evident: light and dark, red and black, but also the devil (the personification of the gas) and safety (emanating from the light). Magondeaux was founded in 1912 by Roger Puiffe de Magondeaux (1883–1964), one of the most prominent French industrialists. Magondeaux introduced a revolutionary acetylene gas lighting system for automobiles and thus left his mark on the history of the automobile. At the time, automobile lighting was notoriously unstable, dangerous and even explosive, but the introduction of acetylene changed all of this. Atelier Maitrejean, 9, Rue Campagne Premiere, Paris
