Art Deco Style meets Classic Auto Design

Alain Lévesque from Hemmings Classic Car

February, 2010 - Mark J. McCourt

Alain working on one of his classic pieces

In the wide spectrum of talented artists, only a handful have developed an instantly recognizable, totally unique style that is incomparably their own. In the focused world of automotive fine art, there is no one who paints like Québec, Canada, native Alain Lévesque, and because of this, his art is sought and celebrated around the world.

"I was very young when I first became interested in automobiles, probably four or five," he recalls. "It was well before I started school. It was probably because my father was so enthusiastic about automobiles; this could have been how I tried to capture my parents' interest. I had a hard time finishing my schoolwork because I was drawing cars in my books. My friends asked me all the time, 'Hey Alain, draw me a Corvette, draw me a Ferrari.'"

Alain pursued graphic design in college, studying at the Université du Québec in Montréal in the 1980s. He later went to work for a publishing company, creating numerous acclaimed poster designs for events like the Montréal World Film Festival and the Americas Cycling Grand Prix.

A 1989 work trip provided the seed that would start him on a new track, one that combined his talent with his passion. "I found an automotive art gallery in the St. James area of London; I'd never seen an art gallery with this specialty before, and seeing these paintings and sculptures--this was the first time that I associated art and automobiles. I was really amazed, it was like a parallel world for me," he explains.

The gallery's owner, Simon Khachadourian, soon commissioned Alain to produce two pieces; the artist returned to London six months later to deliver them. "It was quite exciting for me to get into this world and realize that it was possible to live as an artist with the automobile as my main subject." Alain also soon found representation closer to home, beginning a 20-year working relationship with Jacques Vaucher and his l'art et l'automobile galleries in America.

l'art et l'automobile large poster by Alain 

Lévesque. Available at arteauto.com

It was Khachadourian who first made Alain aware of a major influence behind his trademark abstract interpretive style: "My style is well established now, but I had to work hard to get there--I was developing it at university. Mr. Khachadourian told me my pieces were typical of 'Italian Futurism.' I wasn't really conscious as to the root of my style, and he told me about this art movement, explaining that it was part of the avant-garde art movement of the early 20th century, like the Bauhaus and Cubist movements of the same period. Cubism is well known, and I knew a lot of attention has been paid to Bauhaus because of its importance in avant-garde, but not much is said about Italian Futurism, especially in Europe, due to its political connection with Mussolini. We don't have the same reflections here in North America.

"Mr. Khachadourian offered me a huge reference book on Italian Futurism, and from that I realized how deeply I was inspired by this without knowing it; I developed my style from there more consciously," he continues. "I'd rather be expressive than descriptive. To me, the interest is in the way the subject is treated, rather than in the subject itself. That my work appears as a total abstraction does not bother me, as long as it is able to communicate an idea. The automobile becomes a pretext to create."

Many of Alain's recent pieces have been commissioned, so the first step for him is to learn about the particular car in question before starting his design. "I have to ask the client or representative to tell me about the car's era, where it was created and who owned it. From there, I'll do two or three rough pencil drawings that I send to the client to give him a wide spectrum of options. He might like some of the first with a bit of the third, so I'll construct a new image, this time painted in color using gouache, to give him an idea of the palette. When he agrees with the design and canvas, I move on to the final thing.

Jacques Vaucher, owner of l'art et l'automobile, stands next to one of Alain's works, A room divider detailing a classic Bugatti Dashboard.  Available at arteauto.com

"For years, I worked with gouache and airbrush. I still use the airbrush technique, as it's a good tool for strong graphic designs. I now sometimes use acrylic, but more and more, I prefer working in oil paint because of the quality of the rendering of the shades. Oil is so rich in terms of color, and it gives you the opportunity to work with the shading over a long period of time--more so than acrylic, which dries very quickly," he explains.

Because of his unique style and vision, Alain has been a favorite of concours organizers when it comes to creating original artwork. He has painted at the request of automakers like Porsche and Daimler-Chrysler, has exhibited at Detroit's Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance since 1995, and has even exhibited alongside the Automotive Fine Arts Society at their annual show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Despite these prestigious showings and commissions, he continues to challenge himself with new and different themes: "My goal is to convey the essence of the automobile, not to illustrate it."

De Soto
"This piece was commissioned by Barrett-Jackson in 2003. They asked me to create an image inspired by typical American fins, a witness of what was the glorious bold American automobile industry era."

1963 Riviera
"Among the masterpieces of Bill Mitchell's legacy, with the Sting Ray and the Toronado, the Riviera's powerful personality makes you feel like you can almost have a conversation with her."

1956 Lincoln
"Working on a commissioned painting of the mighty Batmobile, I felt that I had to return to the classic to find out where the beast was hidden..." 

Cord
"Since my work is related to the Streamline and Art Deco era, it was a natural for me to bring that car in. The Cord's radical design is a signature of the boldness and creativity of the 1920s and 1930s." 

Miller
"Created for the Indianapolis 500 competition in the 1920s, the Miller 91 belongs to the 'Machine Age' era. Dramatically graphic, it recalls the powerful majesty of the Hoover Dam."

Alain redefines the automobile with avant guarde futurism.

I first met Alain in the '80's, and after collaborating on a few shows in New York we became fast friends and have worked together ever since. I immediately enjoyed his work the moment I saw it and have partnered with Alain in order to help share his beautiful artwork with collectors around the world. To celebrate Alain's artistic accomplishments, we here at l'art et l'automobile have gathered all of his artwork we have in the gallery, and present it here to you.

We invite you to view the Alain Lévesque gallery and acquire one of these magnificent pieces for you to display proudly.

Enjoy,

Jacques Vaucher

For more great automotive artwork and memorabilia, don't forget to browse the many other categories on our WEBSITE. Remember we also have many more items in our gallery, do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.


And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, share a photo on Instagram and read our Blogs.

Spray It Again Dan

Dan Gurney’s 1967 Champagne Week

story and photos by Eoin Young, edited by James Karthauser

It was a Champagne week for Daniel Sexton Gurney back in mid-summer 1967, when he won the Le Mans 24-hours for Ford one Sunday and was a winner again the next weekend when he took the laurels in the Belgian Grand Prix in his own Eagle.

Dan Gurney prepares a surprise for the audience that would go on to unexpectedly start a tradition.
Photo Courtesy of Dyler.com

Dan Gurney was the first driver to spray the champers about rather than swigging it after he and A.J. Foyt had won at Le Mans. “I was so stoked that when they handed me the magnum of Moët I shook the bottle and began spraying at the photographers, drivers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives. It was a very special moment.” Gurney made Champagne history when he sprayed the bubbly and the moment was captured on a special ‘Spray it Again, Dan’ fan poster.

This classic moment was memorialized in this beautiful poster, 'Spray it Again Dan,'
available at arteauto.com

“What I did with the Champagne was totally spontaneous. I had no idea it would start a tradition. I was beyond caring and just got caught up in the moment. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime occasions where things turned out perfectly...I thought this hard-fought victory needed something special.” “LIFE” photographer Flip Schulke, was a popular chap on the racing scene and Dan had hauled him up on to the stage before he started spraying the Champagne. “I took one photo and then ducked,” Schulke recalled. “When it was over Dan handed me the empty bottle and autographed it.

AJ Foyt (right) and Dan Gurney (left) on victory stand.
Photo Courtesy of Ford Archive

That original Moët Champagne bottle is now in pride of place in the conference room at All American Racers headquarters. Schulke had converted it to a table lamp and used it in his Florida home for 30 years before returning it to Gurney with the comment “You did it...you should have it!” Dan and Evi removed the lampshade, took the electrics out, and had a special glass case made to preserve the famous bottle.

Ford Mk IV winning at Le Mans 1967.  Photo Courtesy of All American Racers

Gurney and Foyt drove their way into Le Mans history with the red 7-litre Mk IV Ford, specially modified with a bump on the roof to accommodate the lanky Dan. They raised the race record by 10mph to 135mph average for the 24 hours, covering a total of 3,250 miles. It was also the first time that an American car and driver combination had won at Le Mans.

Dan Gurney takes the chequer to win the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in 1967 in his Eagle-Westlake V12. 

Photo Courtesy of All American Racers

Dan won at Spa in his own 3-litre V12 Eagle- Weslake. The 3-litre Cosworth-Ford V8s had arrived to win first time out at Zandvoort in Jim Clark’s works Lotus 49, and the two new cars bracketed the Eagle on the front row at Spa. Clark stormed into an immediate lead with Jackie Stewart second in the unloved H16 BRM with Gurney third. Gurney was moving in on Stewart when Clark pitted with a blown spark plug and Gurney also stopped to warn of fluctuating fuel pressure but there was nothing the crew could do so he was sent back out, now in second place, 16sec behind Stewart. Dan was now in attack mode, lowering the lap record as he chased down Stewart and went into the lead with seven laps left.

It was Moët that Dan sprayed in those days and it was Moët that was presented at races thereafter on a gratis basis, Moët et Chandon presumably figuring that giving their bubbles free was financial involvement enough. But Bernie Ecclestone decided that ‘free’ was a word with which he was uncomfortable. He put the naming rights for the official alcoholic fizz in Formula 1 up for bids, and G.H. Mumm won.

Dan Guarney at speed on the way to winning the
Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.  Photo Courtesy of
All American Racers

Dan might have been the first racer to spray the bubbly after a race win, but G.H. Mumm Champagne had arrived in motor racing eighty years earlier when Raymond Mays christened his Brescia Bugatti Cordon Rouge.

Mays had been winning sprints and hillclimbs with the elegant lightweight Type 13 Bugattis that were in production from 1910 to 1926. In the 1930s Mays would create the ERA (English Racing Automobiles) racing marque and in the late 1940s he was the man behind BRM (British Racing Motors). The first BRM was a screaming 1500cc V16 which sounded far better than its racing record would read but a BRM would win the 1962 World Championship in the hands of Graham Hill. Gurney had a dismal summer with BRM in 1960 with a best result of 10th at Silverstone.

In a 1973 interview, Mays told me the story about dining with his engineer friend, Amherst Villiers, in a London restaurant in 1923 when a Champagne label caught his eye. “I had just won a speed trial in the Bugatti and we were celebrating over dinner with a bottle of Champagne. It occurred to me that the striking red and gold Cordon Rouge label on the bottle was just what I needed as a racing name for my Bugatti, and I suppose that was really where sponsorship in racing started.” At the time of the interview, Mays was 73 and still active as Director of Racing for the Marlboro-BRM team.

That night in 1923, Mays asked the waiter if he could steam the label off the bottle as a guide for the name to be painted on the bonnet of his Bugatti and he wrote to the head office of the G.H. Mumm Champagne company, makers of Cordon Rouge in Reims, asking for their permission for him to borrow their brand name for his French racing car. The company replied immediately, delighted with the idea, and despatched three cases of Champagne to toast their new association with success.

Pleased with this double result from the bubbly company, Mays wrote to the makers of Cordon Bleu Cognac but while he received permission to use the name on his ‘other’ Brescia, he was never offered any brandy!

In fact this was inadvertently a first venture into the world of commercial sponsorship in motorsport that has led to the wheel turning full circle. Cordon Rouge Champagne is now the official bubby in Grand Prix racing for presentation and spraying on the Formula 1 rostrums.

Tom Wheatcroft arranged with Raymond Mays to open his motor racing museum at Donington Park in 1974, linking with the UK importers of G.H. Mumm Champagne – half a century after Mays ‘discovered’ the label – and the bubbles started spraying in vintage racing circles with a replica of a Brescia Bugatti used in major store promotions. A special Cordon Rouge Classic Bugatti hillclimb was held by the Bugatti Owners’ Club at Prescott on June 2, 1974 and the winner at six vintage meetings during the summer was presented with a Jereboam of Cordon Rouge and each finisher received a bottle.

Cordon Rouge Champagne had already been the toast of society for half a century when Mays, the young Cambridge graduate made racing history by being the first to carry what amounted to a commercial sponsor’s name on his racing car. That the ‘sponsor’ was a top Champagne company only added to the flair of Mays’ talent as a racing driver. With ‘Cordon Rouge’ he was to dominate speed trials and hillclimbs all over England during the summer of 1924.

Mays, the son of a prominent wool brokerage family from Bourne, Lincolnshire, leapt to prominence in speed events in 1921, while still at Cambridge. He drove a speed model Hillman in those days and had such instant success that he invested everything in a new Brescia Bugatti for the 1922 season. Once again he excelled and during 1923 the Bugatti was run in much modified trim. The speed and engineering so impressed Ettore Bugatti that Mays was provided with a second Brescia for the season of 1924, thus providing him with the need to differentiate between his two Bugattis.

Raymond Mays in the Cordon Rouge Brescia Bugatti.
 Photo Courtesy of All American Racers

The Brescia was a 1500cc 16-valve 4-cylinder sporting car, the competition models being Type 13s in the Bugatti numbering system. They won the voiturette race at Brescia in 1921 to earn the title and Mays made his debut with his Brescia at the Laindon hillclimb, facing Leon Cushman and Eddie Hall in similar cars and placed second in his class. By the end of the 1922 season Mays and the striking blue-grey Bugatti had become extremely competitive. During the winter of 1922-23 Mays began a modification programme on the Bugatti working with Amherst Villiers, a brilliant engineering friend from Cambridge days. Mays wanted a ‘super hillclimb car’ and Villiers designed new pistons and camshaft and made other modifications to boost the Bugatti’s engine from a rev limit of 4300rpm to over 6000rpm – an almost unheard of figure in those days. Running specially-brewed RD2 alcohol fuel – it cost over six shillings a gallon in those days which was regarded as insanely expensive – Mays found that he had the super-car he wanted, but there were development problems with bearings.

Villiers was also an accomplished painter having produced portraits of subjects as diverse as Graham Hill and James Bond creator, Ian Fleming. It was Villiers who designed a fictional car to the fit the role of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which Fleming was using as the theme for a children’s book. His painting of Mays at speed in the Brescia Bugatti was used by G.H. Mumm in a presentation and a poster for the Prescott Hillclimb that summer.

M. Lefrere in Bugatti’s London agency, was most impressed and at the Show he gave Mays a personal letter of introduction to Le Patron, Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti invited the young Englishman to the Molsheim factory, emphasising that he bring his Brescia with him.

Mays senior was delighted at his son’s newfound success and financed the trip to Molsheim, taking the modified car for Bugatti’s inspection. Ettore stood worked long and hard on the cars, Mays helping on evenings away from the wool business. Bleu was potentially faster than Rouge with its later engine, but it mixed success with misfortune, winning at South Harting and throwing a rear wheel at Caerphilly. After this hair-raising ‘moment’ the car was set aside for axle shaft changes, while Rouge howled from strength to strength, winning all over the country.

Dan Gurney with the original Moët bottle
in the All American Racers’ boardroom.

The Brescia Bugattis finally ran out of hours and engines and Mays moved on but he had brought Champagne and sponsorship to motor racing, making history as he did so. Dan Gurney might have been the first driver to spray the crowd after a race win in 1967, but Bernie Ecclestone made an extra little bit of history, whether he realised it or not, by bringing Cordon Rouge back into the motorsport winner’s circle!

We here at l'art et l'automobile hope that your holiday season has been filled with laughter and joy, and if you're of the particular frame of mind, filled with champaign toasts and the occasional dousing.  We hope you have enjoyed this little taste of Racing History, and that your spirits rise like the bubbles from the champaign flutes.

We also wish to toast Dan Gurney, who's accomplishments and exploits have not only gone down in racing history, but who's jovial spirit and gleeful nature have given us a much lauded tradition that racers still honor and celebrate to this day.

Cheers to Dan and Cheers to you this holiday season!

Jacques Vaucher

Remember we have a wide variety of items in our gallery, so do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.

And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, share a photo on Instagram and read our Newsfeed.

How Fast is the Fastest?

History: December 18, 1898: First Land Speed Record Ever, In an Electric Car!

By MAJOR DAN edited by James Karthauser

The first vehicle to ever turn a wheel in France was powered by electricity and
the mind of engineer Charles Jeantaud. Photo Courtesey of The Right Reasons

A Brief History

On December 18, 1898, French race car driver Gaston de Chassaloup-Laubat set the first recognized World Record for Land Speed at an unimpressive 63.13 kilometers per hour (39.25 mph). (Note: For Land Speed Record we are referring to human steered vehicles powered by a motor of some type, and not considering bicycles or horseback riding.)

Digging Deeper

Gaston was driving a Jeantaud electric car for his record run, and at that time when automobiles were in their infancy it was not yet clear which means of propulsion would become preeminent, whether gasoline, electric, steam or diesel powered motors.

Over the next couple years Gaston and his arch rival Camille Janatzy would trade the record status back and forth in an ever increasing raising of the bar. When Janatzy set a new record in 1899 as the first man to drive a car over 100 kph (62 mph) the record stood for a whopping 3 years (105 kph/65 mph). Also in 1899, “Mile a Minute” Murphy rode a human powered bicycle over a 1 mile course in 57 seconds, over 60mph! (The current bicycle speed record is 167 mph.)

The record setting Jeantaud electric car was a chain drive primitive affair that produced only 36 horsepower. Steering was done with a vertical stick that was attached to history‘s first known steering wheel, when other cars were steered with a tiller. The car was rebuilt and won back the land speed record 2 more times, for a distinguished career of having set the Land Speed Record 3 times in all. In fact, the first 5 times the record was set it would be in electric cars, before steam powered cars eclipsed the electrics and finally gasoline powered cars became king of the hill.

The record attempt would first come to the United States in 1904 when Henry Ford drove one of his early creations to the record setting performance, this time on frozen Lake St. Clair near Detroit. By 1927, almost every Land Speed World Record set was accomplished in the United States, though not always by Americans. The current record is held by the Thrust SSC, a jet powered car, at a supersonic 763 mph, set in 1997. (Note: The Ford 999 was powered by an 18.9 liter/ 1150 cubic inch 4 cylinder engine!)

Designer Stefan Marjoram took on the ambitious project of creating a massive poster commemorating
and comparing history's official land-speed record holders. Photo Courtesy of Autoblog.com

What is the fastest you have ever driven a car? The fastest you have ever been in a car driven by someone else? Feel free to share your high speed stories.

We here at l'art et l'automobile have an extraordinary appreciation and yearning for acceleration and velocity.  A need for speed, if you will.  We also appreciate the historical achievements of the daredevils who risk it all on an ever expanding quest for maximum velocity, and of the artists who capture these men and moments rendered in paint or sculpture.  You can find a myriad of Artwork, Sculpture, Collectibles and Memorabilia depicting the pursuit of Acceleration in our Gallery, here at arteauto.com.  Perhaps there you can find something that will satisfy your Need for Speed.  

Cheers, 

Jacques Vaucher

Remember we have a wide variety of items in our gallery, so do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.

And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, share a photo on Instagram and read our Blogs.

Speed Lines by Porsche Panorama

Delivering a fleeting moment in time at a very particular place.

By Michael Jordan, with addition from Jacques Vaucher

When you look at the work of Nicholas Watts, you once again realize that painters have a unique vision of every scene, and this gives them the ability to portray their work in a way that a photographer simply cannot.

To be sure, Watts has a deep respect for automotive machinery, and like a photographer, his realistic images give you a picture of what the cars really look like. Yet painting also gives him the opportunity to put the cars in context, capturing a moment in time that includes not only other cars but also the place where it happened. Through his paintings, Watts is able to tell the story that underlies the speed.

Carrera Panamericana 1952 print by Nicholas Watts, Autographed by Karl Kling,
available at l'art et l'automobile.

Nicholas Watts is another British boy of the 1950s who grew up fascinated by cars. The fact that he lived practically within earshot of the Brands Hatch racing circuit inevitably drew him to motorsport. He started out as a draftsman at Vauxhall, which perhaps accounts for his ability to make the cars look right. He later went into the Royal Air Force as a specialist in navigation systems, which might have something to do with his dedication to making sure the details are correct. Working with both gouache on board and acrylic on canvas over the past 40 years, Watts has created an astonishing number of paintings and prints, and they cover an equally astonishing range of motorsport disciplines.

Raging Bulls giclee by Nicholas Watts, autographed, available at l'art et l'automobile.

In this particular painting, we see the Martini-sponsored Porsche 911 RSR 2.8 that wild man Herbert Müller and Le Mans-winner Gijs van Lennep drove to a win at the Targa Florio in 1973, the last year that this race over the mountain roads of Sicily was included in the sports car world championship. Watts gives us a scene that juxtaposes the speed of the high-tech Porsche with the slow pace of a rustic Sicilian town. The proximity of the spectators shows us the spe- cial enthusiasm that always accompanied this event, as well as the danger that nally ended it.

Le Mans 1954 print by Nicholas Watts, autographed by 5 drivers, available at l'art et l'automobile.

The work of Nicholas Watts is available from many sources, a measure of both its enduring popularity and its relative affordability. We recommend l’art et l’automobile (arteauto.com), Jacques Vaucher’s legendary outlet for automotive art and collectibles. Vaucher has been in the eld since 1975, and he virtually invented the business in the U.S. Most important, Vaucher has a personal relationship with the artists he represents, and his ongoing blog is an entertaining window on the personalities in the eld.

Grand Prix of Japan 1976 acrylic painting by Nicholas Watts, available at l'art et l'automobile.

Richard Baron, Panorama’s creative director, notes, “Like Walter Gotschke and Michael Turner, Nicholas Watts is at the center of the great tradition of automotive art. His realistic style and unique perspectives have made things possible for younger automotive artists— photographers as well as painters.”

Many thanks to Porsche Panorama for Highlighting Nicholas Watts and his talent, as well as the mention of us and our website.

At l’art et l’automobile we have a deep appreciation for the artistry of vintage automobiles, but particularly for the artwork that celebrates them. Nicholas Watts is at the forefront of this sense of dedication to capturing the automotive world through the lens of paint and canvas. To celebrate this fact, we have collected all our pieces by this wonderful artist and present them to you. Find out more about this collection here or enjoy looking through the gallery at arteauto.com, and perhaps add a piece to your collection.

Jacques Vaucher

For more great automotive memorabilia, don't forget to browse the many other categories on our Website. Remember we also have many more items in our gallery, do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.

And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, share a photo on Instagram and read our Blogs.

They're Silver Arrows, Right...?

So that story you’ve heard about how silver became Germany’s national racing color? Not really true.

Daniel Strohl of Hemmings on Jun 4th, 2018, edited by James Karthauser

Pop open any book discussing Mercedes-Benz racing history and guaranteed that book will include the story about how, faced with overweight W25 racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz racing team decided to strip all the paint from the aluminum-bodied cars, thus setting the precedent for silver to become the German national racing color. Except, according to a handful of historians fighting corporate PR and decades of tradition, it’s all hokum.

“It’s a great story, and it would be nice if it were remotely true,” said Don Capps, a longtime member of the Society of Automotive Historians who plans to discuss the German racing silver origin myth in an upcoming talk at the International Motor Racing Research Center. “But one of the problems with auto racing history is that once these things become established, it gets really difficult to bother people with the facts.”

So let’s start with the facts. In October 1932, the directors of the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus – the forerunner to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile – decided that Grand Prix racing had become too fast and too dangerous so, rather than limit the size of competitors’ engines, they decreed a new formula for the 1934 season, essentially unlimited save for the 750 kilogram maximum weight, or about half the weight of most competitive race cars.

Theoretically, according to Louis Sugahara, who wrote and illustrated “Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Race Cars, 1934-1955,” reducing vehicle weight meant reducing engine size in an era before widespread use of durable lightweight alloys for engines; AIACR officials had hoped the weight limit would cap engine sizes at about 2.5 liters. That size instead became a basement for engine displacement among the various competitors.

At first, Mercedes-Benz had no intention to join the fray. The automaker officially suspended its racing program in 1930 as the Depression took hold and as its SSK cars were nearing the limits of their potential. Alfred Neubauer, who helmed the racing program, reportedly considered leaving Mercedes-Benz to join his old colleague Ferdinand Porsche at Auto Union, but remained after Mercedes-Benz board chairman Wilhelm Kissel promised the company would soon return to racing.

That return came in 1933 after Jakob Werlin, who served as Mercedes-Benz’s liaison with the Nazi party, convinced the German Ministry of Transport to subsidize the company’s Grand Prix efforts to the tune of half-a-million Reichsmarks per year. Though that money would later be split between Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union, it still provided sufficient incentive for Mercedes-Benz engineers Hans Nibel and Max Wagner to begin work on a modern aerodynamic racing machine, the W25, powered by a 3.36-liter 32-valve supercharged double overhead-camshaft straight-eight located ahead of the driver.

As before, Neubauer led the racing team, and while he couldn’t get Rudolf Caracciola to immediately return to the team due to an injury, he did get Manfred von Brauchitsch, another proven Mercedes driver, to sign with the team again. Despite promising early tests, the W25 wouldn’t be ready to actually start a race until June 1934, when Neubauer and his team showed up at the Eifelrennen at Germany’s Nürburgring.

For purposes of illustrating the myth, here’s what Sugahara had to say about what transpired there:

On the eve of the race, the Mercedes team discovered that the weight of the W25 was one kilogram above the 750 kg regulation. Apparently, weight control had been neglected somewhat during the repeated modification work. On the night before the race, everyone was in a somber mood, as they all knew it would be almost impossible to shed one kilogram. It was then that von Brauchitsch shouted in desperation, “How about filing down the paint?” This inspired Neubauer, and the team worked throughout the night, carefully filing off and polishing the aluminum skin until they had barely succeeded in reducing the weight by one kilogram.

From then on, the factory color of Mercedes became metallic silver, and the race cars were nicknamed “Silver Arrows.” Auto Union, too, decided on the same silver color, eventually making silver the national racing color of Germany. After the war, Porsche painted its race cars silver, too.

(Other passages recounting the story often give sole credit to Neubauer for the idea, which is not surprising for reasons we’ll see shortly.)

A critical reading of that passage should raise all sorts of red flags. If the team had indeed neglected weight control on the cars, it shouldn’t have caused them much consternation to find a kilogram here or there. And if it were up to the racing teams to decide their nation’s racing colors, it’s far from likely that Auto Union, furiously competing against Mercedes-Benz for Nazi Reichsmarks, would just go along with whatever color Mercedes-Benz haphazardly chose.

Alfred Neubauer directs driver Manfred von Brauchitsch 

(piloting a W125 Mercedes-Benz “Silver Arrow”)

during a pause at the 1937 Grand Prix of Germany

at the Nürburgring. Photo courtesy the

IMRRC Werner Winter Collection.

Instead, as Capps pointed out, AIACR assigned racing colors to the various countries in 1908 or thereabouts: France got blue, Belgium yellow, Italy red, the U.K. green, and Germany white. However, due to white and silver sharing the same heraldry tincture, Mercedes-Benz had a long history of using the colors interchangeably on its race cars.

“We have photos back to 1924 of cars raced by the factory painted silver,” Capps said. “And we have photographic evidence directly from the Mercedes-Benz archives that shows the W24 cars were painted silver before the June 1934 race.”

Indeed, as historian Doug Nye pointed out, von Brauchitsch’s silver-painted Mercedes SSKL was described as a “Silver Arrow” in 1932 and a Mercedes-Benz press release from March of 1934 used the same terminology to describe the W25.

The story about sanding off the paint prior to the Eifelrennen, according to Capps, likely originated with Neubauer himself, who published his biography in German in 1958 and again in English in 1960 (as “Speed Was My Life“). “Prior to that, there was no mention of the story anywhere,” Capps said. “Then after 1960 or so, the story pops up all over the place.”

Neither Capps nor Nye are the first to call the story out. In fact, Daimler-Chrysler convened a symposium in 2007 to discuss that era and to open up the company’s archives to historians. However, despite the evidence to the contrary, Capps said the company – which celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Silver Arrows in 2009 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – still includes the Neubauer myth on placards at its museum, and the company continues to repeat the myth in current press and promotional literature.

Correcting the historical record is “easier said than done,” Capps said. “Mercedes-Benz has made it very clear that they enjoy the myth and don’t bother them with the facts.”

Which is not to say Capps concedes. Instead, his talk at the IMRRC, which he describes as a followup to the 2007 symposium, will delve into the evidence that debunks the myth and show how automotive historians go about researching such topics.

At l'art et l'automobile, we have followed every kind of auto racing for decades, and a shining silver star crowning most of the Auto Racing Circuits has to be the racing teams of Mercedes-Benz.  Their power, technology, teamwork and that iconic silver paint shine so brightly on the racing world, that many teams and manufacturers are forced to do everything they can just to pull themselves from that shadow.  In honor of the Manufacturer's prowess, we have gathered all of our Mercedes Artwork and Memorabilia into one collection, and present them here to you.

Enjoy looking through the collection and tell us which pieces you would like to own. Please Tour the gallery at arteauto.com, and perhaps add a piece to your collection.

Prost!

Jacques Vaucher

For more great automotive artwork and memorabilia, don't forget to browse the many other categories on our WEBSITE. Remember we also have many more items in our gallery, do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.

And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, or share a photo on Instagram.

Razzia’s Niche

A Talented Artist Finds his Niche

by Jacques Vaucher

In an age when most poster art is computer generated, Razzia is one of the world’s only modern day “poster artist”. During the Golden age of posters, late 1800’s and early 1900’s, before television and certainly computers, advertisers employed the best artists they could find to make interesting and unique renderings of the product they wished to sell or advertise. This was done in order to impact the market and stand out from their competitors with a strong image. In most cases the artist would produce a painting which when approved would be lithographed in a larger size with the appropriate text. Razzia still conceives his posters from an original painting, a technique not common in this day and age. Razzia lives and works outside Paris and has done numerous posters for Louis Vuitton worldwide including the Bagatelle Concours of Elegance and the America’s Cup Challenge. Producing poster images for them established Razzia as an automotive artist to much of his delight as he is an automobile and Formula 1 enthusiast who owns and has owned a few Porsches, Mini Cooper and Triumphs. Since 1985, Razzia has created close to 30 different automobile images for the Louis Vuitton sponsored rallies and Concours d’ Elegance they have organized around the world.

Other clients for which he has worked include Stetson hats, Lancia Automobiles, L’Oreal, International Prêt à Porter Feminin (France), Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s in the U.S., Harrods in the U.K., the Nice Jazz Festival, the City of Deauville, several brand name Champagnes and several restaurants in Paris and New York. Among collectors around the world are Elton John, Jackie Collins and Michael Caine. His work has been shown in every major city around the world and is highly collected.

Louis Vuitton Classic 2004 Waddesdon Manor Concours d'Elegance U.K. poster by Razzia

Possibly the best description of Razzia’s work, as well as his contribution to posters and the art world is this excerpt from the forward of the book: Razzia; 25 Years of Poster Art

Razzia’s Posters embody perfect communication with modern cool in an elegant, crisp style. In his somewhat surreal, stylized brevity we find a technique that is uniquely his own, although ripples of past master can be observed throughout. Cappiello, Erte and Broders are incorporated into Razzia’s works as stylistic touches without resorting to mimicry.

I see razzia’s work as divided into two groups. The first is best described as illustrative, with outstanding examples being the Café de Flore and the Bistro du Nord posters, the stetson design and his many Louis Vuitton images. All are persuasive and decorative visions.

The second group - in my opinion the most compelling - is comprised of posters that attract viewers with their graphic simplicity and unflinching clarity: images such as the Cigar advertisement, the Pasta poster (without a doubt Razzia’s signature piece), Prêt à Porter, the Deauville swimmer, the Bugatti Atlantic and the Lancia (which I fondly remember also having been hand-painted on the side of a ten-story building off the Périphérique road that encircles Paris). I believe that it is in these bold, concise, focused images that we see the strength and graphic through-line of Razzia’s promotional narrative.

Razzia's Famous "Pasta" Poster, available in the collection at arteauto.com

But make no mistake about it: Razzia is the last of a dying breed. Quite possibly, he represents a glorious Art Deco conclusion to the contemporary possibilities of the poster. To look at his work is to be mesmerized by his graphic inventiveness and yet one cant quite ignore the fact that in his creations we see the work of the last artist who, at present, can legitimately be called a posterist.
Sadly, the poster as a viable marketing tool has been in a steady decline. From magazine and television ads to the advent of internet advertising, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall. Today’s global firms hire the finest artists and craftsmen to make 30-second commercials; they don’t commission posters to be dispersed with their anachronistic distribution system. And on the odd occasion a poster is actually commissioned by advertisers, instead of hiring a top graphic artist to do the job: they hire a fine-art painter in an effort to produce “arty” promotions. Look no further than the yearly French Open (Roland Garros) posters to understand their irrelevance. But compare these designs with Razzia’s poster for that event in 1984 and you’ll quickly comprehend the opportunities squandered by not utilizing a posterist to create - well, posters.

It’s ironic, however, that the popularity of vintage poster art - the true “people’s art” - is reaching an all-time zenith at the exact same time that new poster production appears to be heading the way of the dinosaur. But it’s important to note that rare and vintage posters have achieved this recognition as collectables and decorative items that have nothing to do with the function for which they were originally conceived: widely-disseminated advertising, absolutely necessary for the promotion of products or events.

With that in mind, this book serves not only as a testimonial to Razzia’s graphic flair, but also to his tenacity and ability to straddle the precarious line between the artistic and the commercial. Not only did he carve out a posterist’s career by getting important commissions from top companies, he also managed to retain the publishing rights to his designs, reprinting them and marketing them in galleries throughout the world. This is proof of Razzia’s savvy comprehension of the contemporary marketplace, both in terms of a realistic business acumen as well as his adherence to a personal vision.

I’ve known Razzia for many years. In 1992, I chose him, from a field of renowned worldwide posterists, to create the inaugural poster for my auction enterprise - Poster Auctions International. I also commissioned him to design the poster for my daughter’s wedding. Obviously I was very happy with the results of the artistic endeavors that he undertook on my behalf and I’m pleased that he decided to include them both in this book.

Whatever the future holds in store for the poster medium, one ting is perfectly clear: Razzia’s most striking contribution to graphic art is a personal clarity of vision, a playful freshness that hold the eye of the viewer as if it’s the first time that they’ve come across a design - even if that’s far from the truth. And that, without question, is a contribution well worth celebrating.

Jack Rennert
Director
The International Poster Center
New York City
2007

Louis Vuitton Vintage Equator Run 1993 event poster by Razzia

Razzia with an example of his work.

We are proud to have been working with Razzia for the last 20 years. You can see most of his images on our website at www.arteauto.com. In 2007, with the help of Mickey Ross, Razzia produced a beautiful book; “25 years of Poster art” about his work. It shows his complete production of paintings and posters he has created.

Razzia has found his niche by creating compositions which blend perfectly with vintage advertising posters.

At l'art et l'automobile, we have always held artists and their work in the highest regard, so much so that we call many of these luminaries friends. Razzia (left) is one of those, and to celebrate a partnership that has lasted for more than 25 years, we have gathered a good selection of our best work by Razzia and are ready to present them to you.

Enjoy looking through the collection and tell us which ones you would like to own. Please Tour the gallery at arteauto.com, and perhaps add a piece to your collection.

All our best from the staff at l’art et l’automobile,

Jacques Vaucher

For more great automotive artwork and memorabilia, don't forget to browse the many other categories on our WEBSITE. Remember we also have many more items in our gallery, do not hesitate to contact us if you are looking for something in particular.

And as always, be sure to Like and Share on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, or share a photo on Instagram.