Chapter 5 | WORKS OF ART

The most famous figure made up of ovals is without a doubt the Michelin man. The figure has been used since 1908 in advertisements for car, motorcycle and bicycle tires of the French brand Michelin. The first posters were drawn by the French cartoonist O’Galop.

You can see beautifully the use of ovals, both in the man himself and in the wheels of the bicycle and the motorcycle. The male cycles with his hands free and apparently takes bicycle tires out of his own body with great ease to throw in our direction, like a kind of frisbees. His body will probably just grow back with new bicycle tires. The bicycle tire at the bottom left is half thrown out of the blue frame and drawn a lot larger so that it appears closer to us, exactly where the letters ‘Pneu vélo’ (bicycle tyre) are written. The text at the top ‘Le meilleur – le moin cher’ means ‘The best – the cheapest’.

To conclude this lesson, two drawings by students: a dance with an oval hula hoop and a gala dress with ovals in the colors of the rainbow.