Skiing Posters, Art Nouveau Beauties Lead Swann Galleries February 12 Auction
New York— An outstanding assortment of ski images for American and European cold-weather destinations will be featured in Swann Galleries' annual winter auction of Vintage Posters on February 12. There are also lovely Art Nouveau images, turn-of-the-century bicycle ads, Israel and Judaic posters and powerful Art Deco designs.
Notable ski posters include circa 1930 European examples, such as one of Roger Broders’s rarest ski images, Sports D'hiver Dans Les Vosges (estimate: $7,000 to $10,000); Franz Lenhart’s Dolomiti / Cortina ($4,000 to $6,000) and the sexy Winter in Austria from Atelier Binder, depicting a blond skier with her skis slung over one shoulder ($3,000 to $4,000).
Among the American ski highlights are Herbert Bayer’s Ski in Aspen Colorado, 1946 ($5,000 to $7,500); Phil von Phul’s Sun Valley, Let’s Go! / Union Pacific, one of the rarest Sun Valley posters to come to market ($4,000 to $6,000); Jack Rivolta’s Up Where Winter Calls to Play / Lake Placid, circa 1938, which features the bobsled run built for the 1932 winter Olympics ($3,000 to $4,000) and several wonderful images created for Dartmouth College’s annual Winter Carnival, including Ted Hunter’s 1937 design and T.N. Joanethis’s 1938 version ($2,500 to $3,500 and $2,000 to $3,000 respectively).
The auction offers an array of dazzling Art Nouveau posters and decorative panels, such as Leopoldo Metlicovitz’s Mostra Del Ciclo E Dell'automobile / Milano, publicizing Milan’s 1907 automobile and cycle show, which is the sale’s top lot with an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. Another Metlicovitz highlight is his Mele / Mode Novità, 1910, for a department store in Naples ($20,000 to $30,000).
Also stunning are a run of works by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha, among them a set of four panels depicting allegorical images of young women as The Flowers, 1898 ($20,000 to $30,000) and his iconic image for Job rolling papers, this one printed on silk and with Mucha’s signature in ink, 1896 (also $20,000 to $30,000).
Rounding out the Art Nouveau highlights are Jean Misceslas Peské’s poster for L’estampe et L’affiche, the seminal magazine devoted to prints and posters, 1898 ($5,000 to $7,500) and the celebrated Cycles Gladiator, circa 1895, which depicts a lovely female nude with flowing red hair being propelled through starry space by her bicycle ($10,000 to $15,000).
A small section of other bicycle images features E. Thelem’s Cycles Peugeot, circa 1897 ($1,500 to $2,000); PAL’s Cycles - Clément - Motocycles, circa 1897 ($800 to $1,200) and Felix Fournery’s Cycles De Dion - Bouton, 1925 ($1,500 to $2,000).
Judaica posters and images devoted to the founding of Israel include the compelling All Together / To Make Idealistic Dream Come True ($1,500 to $2,000); Roli Studio’s Israel Independence Day, 1954 ($1,000 to $1,500); and Samuel Grundman’s Go Enjoy, 1960 ($700 to $1,000).
Additional auction highlights are Orsi’s VIIIe Olympiade / Jeux Olympiques / Paris 1924, one of two designs chosen by the French Olympic Committee to advertise the 8th Olympiad ($5,000 to $7,500); Embhard N. Culin’s Art Deco masterpiece, In 1939 / The New York World's Fair, 1937, in its rare larger format ($4,000 to $6,000); and a fantastic image of a fish for Tasmania / The Anglers' Paradise, circa 1933 ($2,500 to $3,500).
The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 12, and will continue after a lunch break at 2:00 p.m.
The posters will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries on Saturday, February 7, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday, February 9 through Wednesday, February 11, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
An illustrated auction catalogue, with information on bidding by mail or fax, is available for $35 from Swann Galleries, Inc., 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, or online at www.swanngalleries.com.
For further information, and to make advance arrangements to bid by telephone during the auction, please contact Kristina Goodstadt at (212) 254-4710 ext. 53, or via e-mail at posters@swanngalleries.com.
Live online bidding is also available via invaluable.com.
First image: Cycles Gladiator by an unknown designer, circa 1895. Pre-sale estimate: $10,000 to $15,000.
Second image: Phil von Phul, Sun Valley, Let’s Go! / Union Pacific, circa 1940. Pre-sale estimate: $4,000 to $6,000.
