Mündner, Paul | From track cycling to the circus

Mündner, Paul

Circus Busch. Paul Mündner, der berühmte deutsche Rennfahrer in seiner Schleienfahrt. Hamburg: Adolph Friedländer, ca. 1902 (no. 2599)

Color lithograph poster (27 x 36 3/4 in.; 685 x 933 mm). Light fold creases, some minor surface abrasion at lower margin. Framed and glazed with Plexiglas.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, a mania for daredevil cycling acts swept through the world's circuses. Paul Mündner, a European cycling champion born in the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1872, retired from competitive racing in 1902 and joined the circus. Mündner performed the soon standard loop-the-loop ride, but also incorporated obstacle jumping—including over six elephants—into his act. 

This Circus Busch poster features a clever design, with the loop of Mündner's circus track providing a jugate frame to the handsome portrait of the cyclist.