COLLECTOR: Posters by leading artists commissioned by ski resorts and railway companies in the 1920s and 1930s go to auction, writes Joe Armstrong
Rare vintage ski posters will be auctioned this month, with individual posters expected to realise up to €11,000 (£8,660). With the 250- lot auction expected to realise more than £250,000 sterling (€407,000), one lot of five related posters is tipped to make a world record of up to €32,000.
Comprising ski posters by leading artists from the 1920s and 1930s which were commissioned by ski resort and railway companies, items at the Christie's London sale on February 13th start from €410.
Swiss resorts feature prominently, with posters advertising St Moritz, Arosa, Zermatt, Adelboden, Davos, Klosters, Wengen and Pontresina.
The top lot in the sale comprises five 39.5 by 27.75-inch posters - lithographs in colours made in 1917 by Swiss artist Burkhard Mangold (1873-1950) - which, hung side-by-side, spell out Davos. Estimated at €25,000 to €32,000, each sheet features a different winter sport.
Ms Nicolette White, poster specialist at Christie's, told The Irish Times that the auction house expects this lot to set a world record in the sale.
A second highlight is Emil Cardinaux's (1877-1936) Palace Hotel, St Moritz, a 1920 lithograph in colours, printed in Zurich and backed on linen. Measuring 50 by 35.5 inches, it is estimated at €8,100 to €11,000. Cardinaux's art deco image of visitors to the Palace Hotel showing skaters in the background is striking.
St Moritz posters tend to be particularly valuable, partly, suggests Ms White, because there are more five-star hotels there than at any other ski resort. This winter poster shows it isn't only skiing posters that carry high values.
Another St Moritz poster, a 1933 lithograph in colours backed on linen by Walter Herdeg (1908-1995), depicting an athlete's descent at speed, is estimated at €3,300 to €4,800. Action posters are popular, with collectors' interest in this item likely to be aroused further by its early 20th century skiing equipment.
A 1938 lithograph of Arosa by Alex Walter Diggelmann (1902- 1987), estimated at €810 to €1,100, is of interest for its vibrant colours, its evocation of a carefree holiday for all ages and its message that skiers at this particular resort no longer had to ascend the hill unaided.
Collectors tend to choose posters according to favourite locations, and the catalogue for the sale is arranged by location rather than value. Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Russia, the US and Canada feature.
A 1929 Algerian poster featuring an art deco skier by a palm tree with the port of Chréain the background - the first African ski poster to be auctioned by Christie's - is estimated at €810 to €1,100.
A 1930 poster, Winter Sports in the French Alps - a lithograph in colours by art deco artist Roger Broders (1883-1953) backed on linen measuring 40 by 25.5 inches - is expected to fetch between €4,900 and €8,100. Headed Paris-Lyon-Méditerraneé, the railway company for which Broders designed exclusively, it reminds us of the important role played by European railways in commissioning artwork.
According to Mr Anthony Collins, managing director of Irish company www.directski.com, between 50,000 and 60,000 Irish people visit skiing resorts annually.
Vintage posters of resorts that remain popular today tend to fetch high values. For instance, a 1924 Chamonix-Mont Blanc poster by Charles Hallo Alo (1884-1969) is estimated at €2,500 to €3,200.
A 1905 Sports D'Hiver Chamonix poster by Jules Abel Faivre (1867-1945) carries an estimate of €8,100 to €11,000, while two Val D'Isère posters, one of which is as late as 1948, carry an estimate of €1,700 to €2,400 each.
Other high-value posters included in the auction are an attractive 1907 lithograph in colours which reads Zugerberg Wintersport, estimated at €4,600 to €5,200, and a 1905 lithograph by Alfred Marxer (1876-1945), expected to go for €2,500 to €3,200.
