Gstaad Chairlift Skiing Poster – Martin Peikert
This is a superb reproduction of an iconic Martin Peikert Gstaad skiing poster. The poster was created in 1937 to promote the village of Gstaad as a winter holiday destination. In the early 20th century, tourism began to boom and winter sports became an increasingly popular pastime. The poster was designed to inform an ever-growing tourist market about the resort’s latest new-fangled development. Gstaad was keen to announce the completion of its new aerial chairlift.
Peikert’s Gstaad poster depicts a young elegant couple being transported ever closer to the top of the steep Eggli mountain. The cables above the chairlift draw the eye to the summit. The mountainous landscape with its snow-covered mountain peaks and gentle slopes is encircled in the top right-hand corner of the poster. In addition, Peikert has added a yellow cast to this part of the poster helping to make the circular image represent the sun.
The pair are the epitome of cool as they make their way up the mountainside with their skis and poles. The poster perfectly captures the essence and glamour of skiing in the 1930s and 1040s… The golden age of skiing and a time when Gstaad was known for its glitz and glamour.
Gstaad’s first ski-lifts
Gstaad’s very first winter sports season got started in 1907. It took twenty-seven years before its first ski list was introduced.
Before the 1930s it wasn’t anywhere as easy to access the slopes as it is today. Enthusiasts, and you had to be one, had to physically hike up the mountainside with their skis strapped to their backs to ascend the mountains. It was tedious, tiring and time-consuming. It could take between 5 and 8 hours, or even longer, to reach the mountain peaks from which to descend. This meant skiers would get just one, or maybe two runs out of a full day’s skiing.
This changed in 1934 when the first ‘funi’ or funicular was introduced to the slopes of the Wispile in Gstaad. The funi was a predecessor to the serial ropeway. It was crude and rudimentary but it proved to be very popular and paved the way for the gondolas, ski lifts, and aerial chairlifts that followed.
The chairlift was just the first step in transforming Gstaad into the world-renowned ski destination it is today. In the years since hundreds of miles of pistes have been created, and a network of lift systems has transported millions of skiers to the top of the Alps. Today, Gstaad is home to some of the most prestigious ski resorts in the world, and its chairlifts continue to provide visitors with easy access to the slopes.
There is a 1938 Gstaad poster by Walter Diggleman that features a funicular. The early ski lift systems consisted of sled-like vehicles that were pulled up by cables. Funi’s quickly became very popular, because they allowed people to enjoy the slopes without having to hike up the mountain themselves. They made it possible for skiers to get in four or five ski runs during a day’s skiing.
How much is an original Gstaad Chairlift Skiing Poster worth?
If you’re a fan of Original Swiss skiing posters, then you know that they can be pretty expensive. Martin Peikert posters, in recent years, have become extremely popular collector’s items. If you’re looking to add this piece of Swiss history to your collection, you can find it on several online auction houses from a variety of dealers. Just be prepared to pay a sizeable chunk of money for it.
This classic Peikert Gstaard poster is one of the most famous and prized of all Swiss travel posters among collectors. In great or even good condition these posters as original lithographic prints don’t come cheap! But they do seem to increase in value significantly in a short space of time and would seem to be a wise and lucrative investment. For example, one original copy was sold in 2013 for a price of £4,750. Just a year later another went for £10,625. We don’t have a current price available to us, but chances are they now sell for even more money. (At the time of listing (2019) another original copy of the Gstaad Chairlift poster was planned to be auctioned off in Jan 2020. It has a guide price of between £7000 and £9000. We don’t know what it will sell for!)
Getting your hands on an original copy of this poster isn’t impossible. They do come up for sale and auction reasonably regularly. But they are expensive to buy. If you can afford an original, it’s well worth the purchase, and its value is only likely to increase. For most people though, it’s never going to be a possibility.
With this in mind, you might want to consider our reproduction poster wall art instead. It may not be original and it’s not likely to increase in value, but it’s definitely great value.
Our reproduction poster prints are printed on a heavy 300gsm silk art paper. It’s a quality print that looks superb and is available in five sizes, so chances are we’ve got a size to fit your space. More importantly, it’ll still look superb on your kitchen or dining room wall. It would also look stunning in your home office where it’ll look great in the background of your zoom meetings! Go on treat yourself. You won’t be disappointed!
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 £15. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.
