Ice Breakers: Hot Posters for a Cold Season

Keep warm with our playful exhibition featuring a sizzling selection of posters hot and cold -- winter sports, tropical destinations, spirits and other products to celebrate the season!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

Frederic Rouge, Diablerets Aperitif Sain, c. 1920

This spectacular and rare poster attributed to Frederic Rouge advertises an aperitif from its namesake village and peak in the Swiss Alps where its herbal ingredients are found. Located near Gstaad, Diablerets, or "Devil" in English, is now a leading ski area and is pictured in the background. This example is beautifully printed and in fine condition, with wonderfully evocative lettering. It's one of more than 250 winter sports posters in stock. Now that's the way to enjoy the winter!

Niklaus Stoecklin, Meta Meta, 1941

'Tis the season for fondue, and Meta's cooking briquets will get it piping hot. Stoecklin's Meta Meta is one of the most celebrated posters of the Object Poster Style that dominated Swiss product advertising from the '20s through the '50s. Of the many posters done in this super-realist style, none surpasses the subtle highlights and rich surfaces in Stoecklin's still-lifes. This poster won a Swiss poster of the Year Award in the competition's inaugural year, 1941.

Mario Borgoni, Cairo Egypt, c. 1910

"A trip to Egypt," wrote Alexis Gregory in the Golden Age of Travel, "was the most exciting of all the winter activities available to the rich at the turn of the century... They found in Cairo the world of a thousand and one nights, bazaars filled with precious carpets, jewelry, and sweet spices, streets abounding with processions of dervishes, veiled ladies and gentlemen in bright red fezzes. In the nearby desert they were dazzled by the pyramids of Giza and Memphis."

Borgoni's bold poster captured the timeless appeal of Egypt, promoting two of its most famous destinations, Wagon Lits' Shepheard's Hotel and Ghezireh Palace. Shepheard's opened in 1841 as a home away from home for Europeans in the Middle East and underwent several expansions between 1891 to 1925. The Ghezireh Palace was built in 1869 to house visiting monarchs, later becoming a Wagon Lits property in 1894. 

The art director of Naples' famed Richter printing operation, Borgoni was, along with Adolfo Hohenstein and Leopoldo Metlicovitz, the leading Italian posterist of his generation. This rare poster is in fine condition with spectacular, rich color.

A. Knab, Riviera-Dienst - Hamburg America, c. 1910

The Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG) commissioned many of the most unusual and handsome destination posters for its world-wide routes.  Founded in 1847,  the company's growth was fueled by German immigration to the U.S., solidifying its status as one of the largest shipping operations in the world. 

Led in the early 20th century by the innovative Albert Bailin, HAPAG created the first dedicated cruise ship, beginning with winter cruises to the Mediterranean.

This beautiful Modernist travel poster would have made a strong impression on the winter streets of Berlin and Munich, tempting the passerby with the promise of sun and lush vegetation in the booming winter resorts of the Riviera.  Ah, the Golden Age of Travel!

Artist Unknown, Chocolat Klaus Delecta, c. 1900

Chocolate has perennially been one of the hottest poster categories. Many classics were produced during the Belle Epoque, often featuring children (surprisingly, few masterpieces were produced after WWI with the advent of the chocolate bar). This in-store display for a famous brand is an irresistibly charming example. It is the first time we have seen this design.

Lance Wyman, Mexico Olympics '68, 1968

In his book "A History of Graphic Design," Philip Meggs coined this rare poster for the 1968 Mexico Olympics "one of the most successful in the evolution of visual identification..." Its design was dually inspired by the the native art of the Huichol and the Op Art style of the Sixties. The result achieves a fusion of the area's rich native culture with the kaleidoscopic and exciting reality of contemporary Mexico.

Wyman studied at the Pratt Institute and was inspired to specialize in logo design after coming into contact with the work of Paul Rand. One of our favorites!