Eleanor Grosch – History of Cycling 1 – Tour de France – 9 July 1913 – Signed Digital Print

Description

An original signed digital print by the American illustrator and artist Eleanor Grosch from her History of Cycling series, commemorating one of the most celebrated mechanical disasters in the early history of the Tour de France: Eugène Christophe’s broken bicycle fork on the descent of the Col du Tourmalet on 9 July 1913.

Grosch depicts the French cyclist walking through a stark mountainous landscape with his bicycle effectively disassembled around him. The green bicycle frame is carried across his shoulder, one wheel rises behind his head and the detached front fork is held vertically in his right hand. Christophe, dressed in a muted yellow jersey and cap with goggles pushed above his eyes, strides forward rather than rides, immediately signalling that this is no conventional racing scene.

The unusual arrangement of the bicycle is the key to the composition. It refers to an incident during Stage 6 of the 1913 Tour de France, the formidable 326-kilometre journey from Bayonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon across the major Pyrenean passes of the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde. Christophe had been riding strongly and was amongst the principal contenders for the race when disaster struck during the descent of the Tourmalet. His bicycle fork broke, leaving the machine unrideable.

Tour regulations at the time required competitors to carry out their own repairs without outside assistance. Christophe therefore had no option simply to exchange the damaged bicycle for another. He walked approximately 14 kilometres down the mountain to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, carrying and pushing the broken machine until he reached the village forge.

There he repaired the fork himself while race officials watched to ensure that nobody assisted him. The regulations were enforced with remarkable severity: when Christophe enlisted a young boy to operate the forge bellows, he was subsequently penalised ten minutes for receiving assistance. After spending hours repairing the bicycle, Christophe remounted and continued to the finish at Luchon, arriving approximately three hours and fifty minutes behind stage winner Philippe Thys. The delay effectively ended Christophe’s hopes of winning that year’s Tour.

The episode became one of the defining legends of the heroic early Tour de France. It encapsulated an era in which riders were expected not merely to race immense distances over primitive roads and high mountains, but also to remain mechanically self-sufficient. Christophe’s long walk from the Tourmalet and his improvised repair at Sainte-Marie-de-Campan subsequently became inseparable from his reputation as one of the great hard-luck figures of early professional cycling. He nevertheless completed the 1913 Tour, finishing seventh overall.

Grosch avoids attempting a literal historical reconstruction. Instead, she reduces the story to its essential visual elements: Christophe, the mountain and the broken bicycle. The separated frame, fork and wheel make the mechanical failure immediately intelligible, while the rider’s upright walking pose contrasts strikingly with the racing positions seen elsewhere in Grosch’s History of Cycling series.

The mountainous background is constructed from overlapping angular planes of grey, blue and beige, suggesting the severe Pyrenean landscape without identifying a particular topographical viewpoint. Christophe himself is similarly reduced to flattened geometric areas of yellow, black, brown and flesh tones. The resulting image has the clarity of a poster while retaining sufficient narrative detail to identify the historical event.

A small chainring-like device in the lower left bears the date “9 Juillet 1913”, the French form of 9 July 1913, providing a direct chronological reference to Christophe’s celebrated Tourmalet ordeal.

The work is particularly successful within Grosch’s cycling imagery because the apparently surreal disassembly of the bicycle is rooted in an actual episode from racing history. Once the subject is identified, the separate fork, wheel and frame become a succinct visual retelling of one of the Tour de France’s best-known stories.

Cycling has genuine personal significance within Grosch’s work. Originally from Florida, she studied Fine Art at the University of South Florida before relocating to Philadelphia in 2005. In an early interview, Grosch specifically discussed her enjoyment of travelling around Philadelphia by bicycle, describing the city’s scale as particularly suited to cycling.

Grosch has subsequently established a successful career in American illustration and graphic design. Her work is particularly associated with simplified forms, strong shapes, pattern and carefully controlled colour, creating a distinctive contemporary interpretation of mid-century graphic design. Her clients have included Giro, Keds, Urban Outfitters, Starbucks and San Diego Zoo, and she was selected as one of Print magazine’s New Visual Artists in 2008.

Condition: Fine condition. The printed surface is clean and well preserved, with strong, unfaded colour. Signed.

Artist: Eleanor Grosch

Series: History of Cycling

Title: Tour de France – 9 Juillet 1913

Date: Contemporary

Subject: Eugène Christophe, 1913 Tour de France, Col du Tourmalet

Medium: Digital print on paper

Size: 45.8 × 30.4 cm

Signature: Signed by Eleanor Grosch.

Authenticity: Personally curated by Daniel Hornsey for Hornseys. Every artwork is handled, inspected and authenticated in-house at our Ripon gallery. We wholly own all the artworks offered for sale.

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At Hornseys, we are committed to offering art prints and related works by American illustrator and designer Eleanor Grosch that meet high standards of authenticity, condition and visual quality. Our collection has been carefully selected to represent Grosch’s distinctive contribution to contemporary American illustration and graphic design, including her particularly appealing interpretations of cycling, architecture, travel, animals and narrative subjects.

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We wholly own every artwork that we offer. We trust our judgement, invest directly in the material we select and only offer works in which we have confidence. Our Eleanor Grosch collection has been individually selected for the quality of the imagery, condition and its representation of the artist’s distinctive graphic style.

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Each item is described individually, with information provided on title or subject, medium, dimensions, signature, edition, date, condition and provenance wherever known. We research the context of individual designs where appropriate, particularly Grosch’s cycling imagery, architectural subjects and works inspired by places, professional road racing and contemporary urban life.

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EXPLORE OUR ELEANOR GROSCH COLLECTION

Explore our evolving collection of Eleanor Grosch art prints and illustrations. Grosch’s distinctive visual language combines simplified geometric forms, carefully controlled colour, pattern and an economy of line with a strong affinity for mid-century Modernist illustration and poster design.

Cycling forms a particularly engaging strand of her work, ranging from images celebrating everyday bicycle culture to designs inspired by professional road racing and famous European cycling landscapes. Other works explore architecture, city life, animals, travel and narrative subjects, all interpreted through Grosch’s immediately recognisable graphic style.

Whether you are an established collector, an enthusiast of cycling art, an admirer of contemporary American illustration and graphic design, or searching for an unusual and memorable gift, our collection offers the opportunity to acquire carefully selected examples of Eleanor Grosch’s work.

Established in 1976 and based in Ripon, North Yorkshire, Hornseys is an independent gallery and bookseller specialising in original art, prints, design, collectable books and historic material. Every item is handled, inspected and catalogued in-house at our Ripon gallery.