"Ride a Stearns and Be Content" by Edward Penfield (c.1896) - Classic Vintage Bicycle Poster

One of the finest and most celebrated examples of late 19th century American bicycle advertising poster art, reproduced to capture the elegant graphic mastery of this Edward Penfield Stearns bicycle poster. This glossy printed vintage advertising poster — illustrated by the great Edward Penfield and printed by J. Ottmann Litho Co., New York — is a masterpiece of the American poster movement.

• Paper: 200 GSM+
• Finish: Gloss
• Sizes: A5, A4, A3, A2, A1, A0, 20×30", 24×36", 30×40"
• Shipping: Free — rolled in protective cardboard tube

Produced around 1896 by Edward Penfield (1866–1925) — the preeminent American poster artist of the 1890s, art director of Harper's Magazine, and the single most important figure in the development of the American poster movement — this iconic poster for the E.C. Stearns & Co. bicycle company of Syracuse, New York depicted a self-possessed New Woman of the 1890s cycling with serene confidence in her elegant patterned skirt and boater hat. The bold flat-colour design, economical outlines, and confident grey ground are quintessential Penfield — a style he developed from studying the Japanese woodblock prints and the French poster artists Toulouse-Lautrec and Bonnard. The bicycle boom of the 1890s was one of the great popular crazes of the Gilded Age, and cycling was powerfully associated with women's liberation and the New Woman movement.

Today, Edward Penfield bicycle posters are among the most prized items of American graphic design history. This reproduction is essential for lovers of 1890s American poster art, Gilded Age cycling history, Edward Penfield's graphic work, or the broader history of the New Woman movement. It is one of the most beautiful posters ever designed.

Printed with a glossy finish on durable 200 GSM paper, this reproduction captures the refined graphic mastery of authentic 1890s American poster movement bicycle advertising art by Edward Penfield.

Sources for historical context:

• Library of Congress – Edward Penfield poster collection and American 1890s poster movement archive
• Smithsonian Institution – American Gilded Age bicycle advertising and New Woman graphic design history
• Metropolitan Museum of Art – American Art Nouveau poster and Edward Penfield graphic art collection

Disclaimer: While we do our best to upscale each poster to suit the different sizes, some may have small imperfections such as creases or blurred small script. This is normal from old posters that have been scanned or remade over time. We do our best and we are only human after all.