Chamonix Mont Blanc Winter Olympics 1924 poster – Auguste Matisse

Vintage Ski Poster: Chamonix Mont Blanc Winter Olympics 1924 poster – Auguste Matisse

At first, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, the forerunner to the Olympics was reluctant to include winter sports in the Olympic Games. Winter sporting events such as the International Winter Sports Week,  had been an annual event since 1907. Given the rise in popularity of winter sports and the success of international competitions Coubertin decided that all sports should have their place in the Olympic Games.

The change of heart, led to the 1924 International Winter Sports Week being held in association with the IOC and organized by the French Olympic Committee. The event held at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, and Haute-Savoie has now retrospectively been officially recognised as the Ist Olympic Winter Games.

Once it was decided that the first Olympic Winter Games would be held in Chamonix, the PLM railway awarded a subsidy to construct new facilities and went on to publish posters for four of them. The commission for the poster of the specially-built bobsled track went to August Matisse. His incredible image literally offers a bird’s eye view of proceedings, as a 4-man bobsleigh speeds past on its way down the newly constructed bobsleigh chute.  The bobsleigh race was held on the La Piste de Bobsleigh des Pellerins which was constructed for the Olympic event. The race was won by Switzerland (Gold) Great Britain (Silver) Belgium (Bronze). The eagle clutches the French tricolor but it was the Swiss team that won with a total time of 5 minutes, 45.54 seconds.

In 2019 an original of this winter sports poster was on sale for £5,000.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.