Automobile Club de France/5me Salon 1902

At the turn of the twentieth century, the automobile still felt like magic, and Privat Livemont gave that wonder a face in his poster for the 5th Salon of the Automobile Club de France. Rather than simply depicting a machine, he crowned the new age of the motorcar with a goddess - an Art Nouveau vision of modernity made flesh.

A regal female figure presides over the composition, majestic and serene, hovering above the very latest in open-air automobile design. She is progress personified, lending the emerging world of engines the aura of myth. Yet the salon she celebrates reached far beyond cars: the 1902 exhibition gathered bicycles, boats and hot air balloons too, a glittering panorama of the era's most thrilling inventions, and Livemont's design captures that whole spirit of exhilarated possibility. To modern eyes there is a lovely irony in dressing the machine age in the robes of a classical deity, yet that is exactly the poster's charm: it treats the motorcar not as mere hardware but as the newest wonder of a wonder-struck age.

Privat Livemont (1861-1936) was a Belgian Art Nouveau master whose luminous, intricately decorative female figures - haloed in swirling ornament - rival the finest work of Mucha. His gift for elevating the everyday into the mythic made him an ideal interpreter of an age intoxicated by its own technology.

Art Nouveau swept across Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, sweeping away rigid academic convention in favour of sinuous 'whiplash' lines, botanical ornament and idealised figures. It was the movement that first turned the humble advertising poster into a genuine art form and made the city street an open-air gallery.

Displayed at scale, this print becomes an elegant focal point. Its graceful line and rich colour hold their own above a sofa, bed or console, anchor a gallery wall of mixed prints, and bring sophistication and history to a living room, hallway, study, garage or studio - a natural favourite for lovers of vintage motoring.

Printed to order on premium 189 gsm museum-grade archival matte paper with fade-resistant pigment inks for rich, gallery-quality colour and crisp detail. Choose your size from the drop-down menu - 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 or 24x36 inches. Carefully packaged and shipped rolled in a sturdy tube (or flat for the smallest size); frame not included.

This is a faithful reproduction of the original lithograph - colour-matched and printed to archival standards rather than a flat mass-market copy. It preserves the texture and character of the antique poster while arriving crisp, clean and ready to frame.

A memorable gift for anyone who loves Art Nouveau, Belgian poster art, Belle Epoque design or the early automobile - and a lasting way to bring a piece of poster history into a home, studio or workplace. Reproduced from a high-resolution scan of the original; subtle age-toning is part of its authentic historic character.