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Ski Posters
Blu-tack and Sellotape-scarred bedroom
walls must be part and parcel of family
life in almost every home in the country.
All children eventually grow out of their
Beatrix Potter pictures and move on to
posters of scantily-clad pop stars and
heroic sports teams. The true poster
enthusiast need never grow up - original
and vintage advertising posters have now
become a serious collectable and financial
commodity, with any number of dealers
around the world specialising in the field
and auction houses holding regular sales
of poster art.
A Carl Moos poster c1935
sold at
Christie's for £12,000
Film and rock and roll dominate this
part of the market. An original poster
advertising a concert by The Beatles at
The Cavern Club would be a must-have for
any serious collector. Likewise, film
buffs would love to own original posters
from the 1950s and 60s advertising
classics starring the likes of Cary Grant
or Katharine Hepburn. Starting in the low
hundreds, this is a collecting area that
is financially accessible to most and
seemingly far easier to live with than an
Old Master.
A smaller part of this market is now
slowly emerging: the art of the vintage
ski poster. Last month, Christie's in
London held the only sale devoted to this
subject anywhere in the world. More than
400 lots went under the hammer, with
prices ranging from as little as £250
to in excess of £12,000. There was
something to cater for all tastes and most
wallets.
So what keeps the vintage ski poster
market buoyant? With virtually no dealers
in this field, the market is driven almost
entirely by private buyers, most of whom
have a passion for skiing. The image
depicted is important: while a picturesque
Alpine scene may be attractive, add a
figure or two on skis and the poster
becomes far more appealing to the buyers.
The resorts that were being advertised at
the time play a major role in determining
value. Perhaps not so much now, but in the
past, skiing was very much a pastime for
the rich elite, with resorts such as St
Moritz and Davos conjuring up images of
the European super-rich wrapped in furs
and drenched in diamonds.
Posters advertising these "wealthier"
resorts are attracting a lot of attention
from those who own property there today.
Also look out for desirable artists -
works by Emil Cardinaux (1877-1936), a
Swiss artist, can sell for upwards of
£10,000, and Roger Broders
(1883-1953) of France is another popular
figure. As always, rarity and condition
will play their part in determining
value.
Unlike a number of other areas of the
print market, the original artwork for
these posters rarely commands the prices
that the printed image itself achieves.
This is due to the superb quality of the
lithographic prints themselves. At the
time of production there was a real sense
of artistic collaboration between the
artist and the printer, so much so that a
limited number of posters were sold as
works of art. The posters used for
advertising were pasted over or torn down,
as happens today. But fortunately the
artists, printers and private buyers who
held on to a number of original examples
have allowed us to enjoy the art works
today.
Don't worry; you don't have to own a
chalet in Gstaad to buy one of these
posters. A stunningly colourful example of
graphic art from the first half of the
20th century could enhance many interiors,
and it would be a far better investment
than that old Status Quo poster.
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