Swann Galleries to Offer Vintage Poster Highlights from the Gail Chisholm Collection

New York—Swann Galleries will offer an auction of Vintage Posters Featuring Highlights from the Gail Chisholm Collection on Thursday, March 1. More than 130 highlights from the collection of internationally renowned dealer and aficionado Gail Chisholm provide a colorful cross section of the variety of twentieth-century posters, from unusual images to midcentury masterpieces.

Gail Chisholm was beloved in the poster community for her impeccable taste and sense of humor. The collection is led by a suite of three posters—unique to the travel poster genre—by Georges Dorival, titled Vers le Mont - Blanc, 1928. The set, displaying the majestic peak throughout the day to lure all potential tourists, from early risers to night owls, carries an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. Breathtaking travel advertisements for Scotland include two depicting holes on the famed Gleneagles golf course—The “Howe o’ Hope” and The “Heich o’ Fash”—each with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. Powerful graphic works by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre include Chemin de Fer du Nord, 1929, and Paris, 1935 ($4,000 to $6,000 and $3,000 to $4,000, respectively).

An unmistakable theme in Chisholm’s collection is a concentration of tantalizing advertisements for food and drink. Two posters from Charles Loupot’s iconic 1930 series for Cointreau, each valued at $5,000 to $7,500, demonstrate the artist’s mastery by using the color of the beverage as a thematic element while also reminding the viewer of the fruit from which it derives. Additional culinary highlights include J. Stall’s Champagne Joseph Perrier, circa 1929 ($2,500 to $3,500) and two featuring lobsters.

Also from the Chisholm collection comes an unparalleled selection of Erik Nitsche’s campaign for General Dynamics, a series so graphically powerful it changed the face of advertising. These are led by the French version of Hydrodynamics from the influential Atoms for Peace series in 1955 ($2,500 to $3,500). In accordance with her wishes, proceeds from the sale of her collection will benefit Planned Parenthood of New York City.

The complete set of four allegorical panels by Alphonse Mucha of The Seasons, 1896, leads a breathtaking section of Art Nouveau works, with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. Also featured are several iconic posters including ?veil du Matin and Réverie du Soir from the 1899 Times of the Day series, each valued at $7,000 to $10,000, as well as all seven plates designed by Mucha for Maîtres de l’Affiche. All five plates designed for the publication by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec make a rare auction appearance. Iconic works by Paul Berthon, Jules Chéret, Jean de Paleologue (Pal) and Henri Privat-Livemont will also be available.A stellar selection of ski posters includes such highlights as a previously unrecorded advertisement for Sun Valley, Idaho, circa 1936, released within a year of the famous resort’s opening and the inauguration of the world’s first chairlift ($4,000 to $6,000). The following year a similar technology had spread to Switzerland, where it is the main attraction in Alex Diggelmann’s poster for Gstaad / Berner Oberland, 1937 ($6,000 to $9,000). Additional highlights include the scarce English version of Erich Hermès’s Winter in Switzerland, 1936, with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000, and an early photomontage poster for Davos, 1901, from the Julius Paul Collection ($3,000 to $4,000). Rogers Broders is well-represented with Sports d’Hiver dans les Vosges, circa 1930, at an estimate of $5,000 to $7,500. Charles Hallo, who went professionally by the nickname Alo, designed Chamonix - Mont Blanc, 1924 ($4,000 to $6,000) for the eighth Olympic games, leading a competitive section of Olympic imagery.

Skiing was an attraction in the southern hemisphere as well, with James Northfield’s Winter Sport in Australia, 1932, carrying an estimate of $5,000 to $7,500. Also from Oceania come Australia / The Great Barrier Reef, circa 1956, by Eileen Mayo, and Harry Kelly’s Tasmania / Australia for the Angler, circa 1935 ($2,500 to $3,500 and $2,000 to $3,000, respectively).

The complete catalogue with bidding information is available at www.swanngalleries.com.

Image: Lot 247: Alex Walter Diggelmann, Gstaad / Berner Oberland, 1937. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.