Sports d’Hiver Skiing Poster – Georges Arou
This is a great 1931 French Winter Sports poster (Sports d’Hiver affiche) produced by the Chemins de Fer de Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée Railway, the French Railway company better known as PLM. The poster features a woman skiing in France. The fashionable daredevil Alpine skier is wearing her best blue haute couture jumpsuit with a matching beret. She is obviously proficient and descending down the mountain slopes of the French Alps at some speed. Her scarf is shown billowing behind her. Arou portrays the downhill skier racing over the snow-covered landscape as though she is skiing on top of the clouds. Which is exactly how she will feel. The image is a perfect depiction of the thrill and excitement of skiing, as well as its portrayal of the beauty and grace of the sport.
Women Skiing Posters
The beautiful illustration of the downhill skier was created by the French artist Georges Arou in 1931. The poster design could possibly be the earliest skiing poster to feature a woman in action carving up the slopes. It’s a fact that women did appear on many winter sports and skiing posters throughout the golden age of travel. However, up to the mid-1940s, and even beyond, ‘the fairer sex’ were often portrayed in some form of static pose, rather than taking part in the skiing action. Examples include Paul Ordiner’s 1935 Combloux poster depicting a woman adjusting her skis, Walter Digglemann’s 1930 Chateau D’Oex with a skier gazing out over a snowy landscape and the 1935 Winter in Austria poster by Atelier Binder with a skier carrying her skies on her shoulder. All stunning posters but not ones that transmit the rush, the thrill and the excitement you get when skiing downhill at high speeds.
Women had been enjoying their skiing since the mid 1800’s, just as long as men. And, the first Ladies Skiing Club was set up in January 1923 at the Palace Hotel in Murren. Just like the men, women loved skiing. This is why it is a surprise that Women weren’t allowed to enter the Winter Olympic Games to participate in any other winter sport other than single or pairs figure skating, until 1948. It’s around this time that some of the American artists began to include women actively skiing in their poster designs. Examples include a poster for the Crawford Notch ski resort depicting a woman speeding down the slopes of the White Mountain and the 1947 Montana poster by Sagal.
How much is the Georges Arou Sports d’Hiver Poster worth?
When you look at this fabulous Sports D’Hiver poster, you can’t help but feel inspired to get out there and conquer the slopes yourself. And that’s precisely what Arou wanted to achieve with his work. It’s a spectacular and rare poster – perfect for home, office, bar, restaurant, or ski chalet! If you’d like to get your hands on an original print, it’s likely that you are, depending on condition, going to be paying somewhere in the region of £700 and £2,000.
Whilst this may seem a lot of money to spend on a poster, in today’s poster collecting world, it’s really on just above an entry level value and could be a great starting point for those of you who want to start your own poster collection. And, you’ll get no argument from us. If you can manage to locate an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it.
For most of us, an investment at this level isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. Our superb, high-quality reproduction posters are the perfect alternative to an original. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.
So if you are looking for a dynamic skiing poster with a powerful, female, downhill skier on it, look no further because you’ve found it! Our posters are printed on premium 300gsm high quality, silk art paper and with our fast turnaround and delivery, they can be with you in just a few days. Order yours today, you won’t be disappointed! Buy two and hang one up in your Swiss chalet as well!
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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.
