40 x 30 cm (extra drop with bike chain). Acrylic, collage, pen, resin, bicycle chain on canvas.
Original cover - La Vie au Grand Air - 4 Août 1906.
Rene Pottier Tour de France
René Pottier (5 June 1879 - 25 January 1907), won the 1906 Tour - a 13-stage race, which he lead from Stage 2 to its conclusion, with two timed laps of the Parc des Princes velodrome in Paris.
He was dubbed the finest climber (meilleur grimpeur) of the Tour. Only six months later, Pottier hanged himself on his bike hook, in the clubhouse of his Peugeot team. He had sunk into depression, after learning that he wife had engaged in an affair while he was away riding the Tour.
All artwork, text and images © James Straffon 2024.