This is the three-sheet version of the poster for one of the French prestige cars of the 1930s. D’Ylen was a posterist of the Cappiello school, and created startling, effusive designs that exaggerate dimension and movement. It’s interesting to see what he did when constrained by the dignified image of the car: he simply indulged his passion in the allegorical figure in the background. The brand had a slow start: Marius Berliet of Lyon built his first car in a small workshop in 1895, and in his fifth year of operation sold only six cars. But in 1901, he merged with another firm and started building larger cars in the Mercedes style, and the Berliet was on its way. Rare!
Imp. P. Vercasson, Paris
literature: d’Ylen, 7 (var); PAI-LXXXIX, 13