One of the vintage posters. (Lyon & Turnbull via SWNS)
Rare art deco posters from the 1920s advertising luxury Swiss ski resorts are up for auction – for up to £20,000 ($25,000) each. The Ski Sale at Lyon & Turnbull will feature over 80 lots – including stunning posters advertising luxury resorts in St Moritz, Chamonix and Val d’Isere.
The auction’s top lots are original, Art Deco lithographic posters, commissioned shortly after construction of the resorts. One design by Swiss artist Alex Walter Diggelmann (1902-1987) was printed in 1938, depicting a party scene on a ski lift in Gstaad – a new addition to the landscape at the time, with Gstaad’s first ski lifts being installed around 1934.
The posters are from the 1920s. LYON & TURNBULL VIA SWNS.
The poster is estimated to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000 at auction. Six posters by Frenchman Roger Broders, (1883-1953), depict the slopes of the Alps, with many commissioned in the wake of the first ever Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924.
Broders’ 1929 ‘Winter Sports in the French Alps’ depicts athletes leaving a train at the Col de Voza on Mont Blanc and is expected to sell for between £6,000 and £8,000 at auction.
A rare British poster by columnist, cartoonist and competitive skier James Riddell (1909-2000) is expected to fetch between £500 and £700.
Riddell’s poster is advertising the Oxford University Ski Club’s annual trip to Klosters in 1934 – just five years after he competed and placed eighth in the first ever international downhill skiing race. Posters from the post-war years tend to be more affordable but are equally colorful, striking and redolent of the eras for which they were made.
The sale includes several posters from the series advertising the beauty of the Swiss winter season created with photographs by Giegel c.1960. The image of skiers catching the rays on deckchairs on the slopes at Villars-sur-Ollo is guided at £300-500.
This year’s annual Ski Sale is conducted by Lyon & Turnbull in partnership with vintage poster specialists Tomkinson Churcher. Former Christie’s specialists Nicolette Tomkinson and Sophie Churcher have been responsible for the curation of the 81 original posters from the 1920s-60s.
“The Ski Sale presents collectors with colorful, decorative and striking vintage poster designs, perfect for winter sports lovers looking to decorate their home, office or chalet,” they said.
“There is a poster for every budget with estimates ranging from £300 up to £20,000.” The auction is set to take place on January 11.
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