£3.99 – £14.00
Winter Sports in Italy are thriving. Whether it’s Alpine skiing at Val d’Aosta, cross country or snowboarding down mountains like Cortina d’Ampezzo and Livigno or Tobogganing in the Val Gardena valley, Snowshoeing at Trentino or Telemarking in Cervinia.
Winter sports in Italy are belived to have started in the Savoy Alps, west of Turin, possibly at Sestriere, which is not only, one of Italy’s oldest ski resorts, it was the world’s first purpose built ski resort. Posters highlighting the Country’s beautiful winter landscapes, Italy’s radiant women and the winter sports facilities on offer were created by some of Italy’s best known poster artists.
Gino Boccasile’s popular Torino poster featuring his skiing partner in a cool pair of shades removing her jacket on the snowy slopes of Sestriere. His stylised skiing couple standing in front of the mountain range, that feature in his 1938 Cortina poster. Boccasile’s poster portraying a couple hiking at Vallé d’Aoste shows that skiing wasn’t the only winter sporting option.
Mario Puppo’s 1935 Italia Sestriere poster with its dramatic downhill skier. Puppo’s own Valle D’Aosta poster features a trio of friends cheering on a ski jumper that is only noticeable from the shadow he casts.
Two of Italy’s most famous skiing posters were produced by Arnaldo Musati. His Cervinia poster features a woman with a red top and bright yellow gloves on. She is portrayed joyfully raising her arms to the sky. It’s a poster he revisited for the Valle D’Aosta resort but in that one he portrayed the woman from behind.
The poster featured on this page was created by the Swiss artist Franz Lenhart in 1934 for the Italian Government Tourist Board (ENIT). Unusually it doesn’t specifically promote one resort. Instead it advertises Winter Sports in Italy generally. It features a cracking 1930s image of a downhill skier, dramatically descending the slopes of an Italien mountain. Lenhart’s skiing posters, like those of his contemporary’s are rare and highly sought after. Original copies of this 1935 skiing poster command a price tag in excess of £3500.
Franz Lenhart is probably best remembered for his classic art deco poster for Modiano cigarettes. The poster featured a stylish young woman in a black hat and jacket against a bright green jacket. It’s a classic image. Lenhart also created many Italian travel posters for the ski resorts of Italy. His 1930s Cortina poster features a great image of an airborne skier jumping off a snow cover hill. Even though skiing was popular by the 1930s the poster still advertised other winter sports activities such as Skating, Ice Hockey, Ski Jumping and Bobsleigh.
My favorite Franz Lenhart skiing poster was not created for the Italian market. Its titled Wintersport in Ober-Österreich and features a couple of skiers, knee deep in snow, taking a break from skiing at the top of a mountain. The couple are watching several skiers descending the mountain on the other side of the valley. It’s a great image!
All these posters helped bring the many fledgling ski resorts to the attention of the public. Posters would be placed on railway stations, waiting rooms, airports, travel agents and ticket offices to raise awareness to the resorts and the sports.
Winter sports have moved on a lot over the last few decades with sports including Snowshoeing, Telemarking, Boardercross and Ice-Cragging becoming really popular sports.Whichever winter sport you love, whether you’re looking for the challenging slopes of the Alps or the relaxed atmosphere of the Dolomites, you’ll be sure to find it in Italy. Winter Sports in Italy are certainly thriving!
Bring back the memories of your fantastic skiing trip to Italy. Whether you’re looking for something to hang in your living room or kitchen, this is the perfect poster for you and your home. Buy this poster today. it’ll help you remember your fabulous holiday forever.
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 a 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 poster for just £22.
These digitally enhanced posters are professionally printed with fade-resistant inks onto a thick 300gsm silk poster card.
A4 posters are printed on to 300gsm silk artboard
A3, A2 and 50x70cm posters are printed on to 230gsm poster paper
All posters are despatched by 2nd class Royal Mail. Posters are posted in either a hard-backed envelope clearly marked ‘Do Not Bend’ or a sturdy postal tube.
This listing is for prints only, frames shown in any photos are not included in the sale.
| Size | A4, A3, A2, 50x70cm |
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