Every subject has its
celebrated artists: think of Michelangelo and the human form; Audubon
and birds; Stubbs and racehorses; Warhol and soup cans. Of course,
our sport is no exception and while many will argue that Frank
Patterson's pen-and-ink bucolic English scenes of early 20th
century tweed-clad gentlefolk smoking pipes while relaxing in front
of a thatched-roof pub are the finest (and dreamiest) representations
of what we cyclists imagine life to be, it is a disappointment that
Mr. Patterson was not a cyclist himself and hardly even left his
cottage, mostly never seeing the places he drew. So we must look
across the Channel for inspiration and here we find the indisputable
master of technical drawings of bicycles, their parts and
accessories: Frenchman Daniel Rebour. His thousands of drawings are
scattered throughout old magazines, catalogues and other publications
seldom seen, with the most notable collection being in a Japanese
book published in 1976. But now Cycle Publishing has issued a superb
hardcover book featuring 2,000 of the master's drawings with brief
captions in English to charm all of those with a love of vintage
machinery and classic draftsmanship. Captions are by Rob van der
Plas, a mechanical engineer himself, with contributions by Frank
Berto, another engineer whose vast collection of cycling magazines
was a primary source for the illustrations in the book.
Daniel Rebour was born in
LeHavre c. 1908 and studied technical illustration in Paris,
graduating in 1928 and soon finding work as a test rider and
illustrator for a motorcycling magazine. During the Second World War
he illustrated car parts catalogues and then moved to Biarritz.
Directly after the war a friend approached him about joining a new
magazine, Le Cycle, as an illustrator and technical editor.
The first issue ran in September 1945, with the magazine appearing as
a weekly, then bi-weekly and finally monthly. It continued until the
collapse of the French industry after the mid-1970s bike boom, with
the last number coming out in December 1975. The detailed drawings
continued but now mainly found themselves in catalogues, including
those produced for André
Bertin, Réne Herse and
the VAR tool company. Bertin imported components from several
Japanese manufacturers, including Shimano and SR, and so the
selection in the book extends beyond classic European products to
include the then-new ones from Asia. Rebour published into the 1980s
and passed away in 1991.
The book comprises work
representative of the entire period of Rebour's output from the 1940s
through the 1980s, arranged in 28 chapters divided into components
(derailleur gearing, drivetrains, pedals and clips, rim brakes,
etc.), accompanied on the lower half of each page with drawings of
entire bicycles. The latter includes many of the race-winning mounts
of famous cyclists of the epoch including Ferdi Kübler,
Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Raphaël
Géminiani, to name a
few. There are many familiar names—Campagnolo, Simplex, Huret,
Shimano, Peugeot—and many that are obscure or forgotten entirely
now, such as Narcisse, Jeunet, Follis, Cardinale, that vanished when
the once-dominant French industry faded.
Rebour seems to have drawn
everything and beyond the obvious (Campagnolo Super Record parts,
Brooks saddles, Wolber tubulars) he included folding bicycles, pumps,
lighting, motorized bicycles, clothing, shoes and tools in his
repertoire.
The drawings, beautifully
rendered and providing more detail than photographs, present a
fascinating array of technological change over nearly four decades.
A gold mine to restorers, “Rebour” is a pleasure to simply browse
through and revel in a period before carbon fibre, electronic
shifting or, apparently, colour printing.
“Rebour—The Bicycle
Illustrations of Daniel Rebour”, compilation and texts by Rob van
der Plas and Frank Berto
Cycle Publishing, San
Francisco, 2013
288 pp., illustrated,
hardcover (second, corrected, printing), suggested price US49.95
ISBN 978-1-892495-71-6
For more information, visit
www.cyclepublishing.com
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