Art Deco sports poster: Racing Rugby vs Stade Français, Henri Mercier, 1920s-30s

  

Sports painting - oil on panel. By Henri MERCIER, active during the interwar period. Rugby match: Racing Club de France against Stade Français or PUC.

Framed size: 63 x 47 cm. Artwork only: 55 x 38 cm. Henri MERCIER, an advertising painter among other things, active during the first half of the 20th century; the painting is signed in the upper right in red. A very fine painting depicting two emblematic clubs of French rugby, with players wearing early-20th-century uniforms: soft leather helmets, high-top shoes, a stitched leather ball, and jerseys with padded, reinforced shoulders. The team in blue-and-white striped jerseys strongly resembles the colors of Racing Club de France—the sky blue and white colors of Racing were established in 1884, inspired by the colors of Cambridge University.

Racing was one of the major Parisian teams of this golden era. The opposing team in red and navy blue could be Stade Français or PUC, which then used red as its historic color.