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Sports Art, Skiing, Dartmouth University, Winter Carnival, Ostberg, Vintage Poster, 1939

$2,200

Ostberg (after)
Dartmouth Winter Carnival Poster
American: 1939
Color-printed poster
Signed in matrix
34 x 22 inches
$2,200

An original example of a Dartmouth Winter Carnival poster for the weekend of February 10-11, 1939, issued then by the college as an advertisement and souvenir. They were published annually starting in the mid 1930s and their eye-catching graphic style have made them desirable to collectors. This particular poster, in the Art Deco taste, shows a male skier bursting through a trompe-l’oeil snowflake shape, below a waving white pennant bearing the words “Dartmouth Winter Carnival.” It is executed in shades of blue, red and dark green. The artist, Ostberg was a student at Pratt Institute School of Fine and Applied Arts in Brooklyn at the time, as indicated by a credit in the lower left. We also offer a companion Winter Carnival poster for the year 1939, shown on our website.

Product description continues below.

 

Description

The first organized competition of winter sports at Dartmouth began in 1910 and was called “Winter Carnival” starting in 1912. It became an annual intercollegiate competition not long after, and later became international. As the event grew, it expanded from downhill and cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and snowshoe race competitions to include other festive events. A poster advertising the event was issued in 1911, and the tradition of creating one or two posters annually begin in 1935. The posters apparently were designed by art students, either at Dartmouth or other schools, as indicated in credits in the lower margin. Some of the artists went on to successful professional careers in illustration art. Based on extant examples, students at Dartmouth at the time the posters were issued often kept them as souvenirs after graduation. The posters are now highly prized by art and memorabilia collectors; they are at once examples of sporting art, and also a reflection of the art style and social history of the respective times they were created.

Full publication credits, lower margins: “Ostberg. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y. School of Fine and Applied Arts. Litho in U.S.A.”

Condition: Generally fine overall, uncirculated with strong original color and no need for it to be backed. Nonetheless, with some light handling and wear.

References:

Horrell, Jeffrey. “Posters: About.” Dartmouth College Library. 6 December 2021. https://www.dartmouth.edu/library/digital/collections/other/about.html (13 February 2023).

Ostberg. “Dartmouth Winter Carnival, Feb. 10-11, 1939.” Dartmouth Winter Carnival Posters. https://doiorg/10.1349/ddip.1294 (13 February 2023).

Additional information

Century

19th Century