This original period poster was designed by celebrated Italian artist and designer Piero Fornasetti for Bolide Design, an exhibition devoted to high-performance automobile design. Held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Palais du Louvre, Paris, the exhibition ran during February, March and April 1970. The composition is signed “Fornasetti 1969” in the plate, reflecting the year in which the design was created.
Fornasetti reduces the excitement of motor racing to a remarkably economical image. Two immense shaded curves converge toward a narrow central passage, where a tiny orange racing car marked with the number five appears to surge across the poster. The contrast in scale creates an immediate sensation of speed, compression and aerodynamic force.
The restrained palette of silver-grey, black, white and vivid orange reinforces the poster’s modern industrial character. Bold sans-serif lettering is integrated into the composition, with the museum’s name extending along the car’s trajectory and the monumental exhibition title anchoring the lower section.
Bolide Design examined competition and high-performance automobiles as objects in which advanced engineering and sculptural form converged. Fornasetti’s poster captures this idea without depicting a particular vehicle in detail, transforming the automobile into a concentrated symbol of movement and technological ambition.
An exceptional example of late-1960s European graphic design created for a major Parisian museum exhibition, this original poster brings together the distinctive imagination of Piero Fornasetti, the history of automotive design and the visual culture of the Louvre. It would make a striking addition to a collection devoted to modern design, automobiles, Italian art or historic exhibition posters.
Original Poster
Automobile - Exhibition
Museum of decorative art - Louvre Palace
Italy
Good condition
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