Foire de Lyon 1920
Buy this print on Etsy →Before a city can sell its wares, it must first sell its story, and Roger Broders understood that better than almost anyone. His 1920 poster for the Foire de Lyon turns a commercial trade fair into a celebration of civic pride and artistic ambition.
The Foire de Lyon was an international fair devoted to the decorative arts, first held in 1918 and continued as a proud annual tradition. Broders roots his design in the city's own monumental heritage, depicting the allegorical sculpture of the Rhone that reclines at the base of the great monument to Louis XIV on horseback. Rather than crowd the composition with goods and slogans, he draws the eye toward Lyon's cultural prestige, presenting the fair as an event worthy of a city with centuries of artistry behind it. The choice is a quietly clever one, borrowing the authority of a royal monument to lend the modern fair a sense of gravity and permanence.
Roger Broders (1883-1953) was a leading light of French poster design during the golden age of rail. Best known for the radiant PLM railway images that tempted travellers toward the Alps, the Jura and the Riviera, he worked in flat, elegantly simplified planes of colour that remain among the most sought-after in the field. Collectors prize his work today as much for its graphic assurance as for its nostalgia.
His style belongs squarely to Art Deco, the movement that swept 1920s France with its love of speed, luxury and clean geometric form. Deco designers reduced elaborate scenes to bold, confident shapes, and in doing so gave the travel and exhibition poster its unmistakable air of streamlined, optimistic modernity.
Displayed at a generous scale, a vintage lithographic poster becomes a genuine focal point. Its saturated palette and self-assured composition hold their own above a sofa, bed or console, anchor a gallery wall of mixed prints, and lend colour, warmth and a sense of history to a living room, hallway, dining room, home bar, kitchen or studio.
Every print is made to order on premium 189 gsm museum-grade archival matte paper with fade-resistant pigment inks, for deep, gallery-quality colour and sharp detail. Select your size from the drop-down menu: 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 or 24x36 inches. Each order is carefully packaged and shipped rolled in a sturdy tube, with the smallest size sent flat; a frame is not included.
What you receive is a faithful fine-art reproduction of the original stone lithograph, colour-matched and printed to archival standards rather than a flat mass-market copy. It keeps the texture and character of the antique poster while arriving crisp, clean and ready to frame. Reproduced from a high-resolution scan of the original, it carries subtle age-toning as part of its authentic historic character.
For lovers of vintage travel posters, Art Deco design and the golden age of rail, the Foire de Lyon makes a memorable gift and a lasting way to bring a piece of French exhibition art into a home, studio or workplace.
