In my initial research in regards to the history of my mother’s Chamonix poster, I was mostly directed to Pinterest boards. There was no evidence of it being an advertisement of any kind, so I was led to believe that it was created solely as a decorative souvenir. Something to remind someone like my mother of the trip they took to France.
However, I wasn’t entirely satisfied with these results, so I dug a little deeper. I typed all of the text from the poster into Google, “Chamonix, 80 ans de sports d’hiver,” in both French and English. This led to the discovery that the first official Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix in January of 1924. I was surprised that this information didn’t come up in my first search, since that seems to pretty noteworthy. I began viewing advertisement posters for those Olympic games, and the style of those posters were similar to my Chamonix poster.
The art on this poster was done by an artist named Auguste Matisse, and a lithographic print copy of this poster is currently selling for close to $4,000. My jaw honestly dropped when I saw that. I’m sure my mother’s poster didn’t cost that much, which made me think these two posters were not as related as I originally thought.
However, upon viewing these posters it is clear that they do hold some similarities. The fonts are very similar, as well as the view of the mountain in the background. I believe my mother’s poster was created with allusions to the style of the Olympic Games advertisement due to its popularity not only among people in France, but all over the world.
As discussed last week, the lineage of this poster dates back about 35 years having first belonged to my mother. It was interesting to hear about the poster from her perspective, and it now means a little more to me than it did before. It was also interesting to read about the potential history of the creation of the poster, even though these are mostly speculations. The Winter Olympics in 1924 brought a lot of publicity to the small ski town of Chamonix, which probably contributed to my mother’s desire to go there 60 years later.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
Carly,
Your Mom’s poster reminded me of one I’ve seen before (I’m a skier myself, both cross-country and downhill), and I managed to find the webpage again:
http://www.blissfrombygonedays.com/home/2018/3/1/winter-olympic-games
The second picture on that page is a very similar ad to the one you have. Antiques Roadshow was mentioned last class, and your post almost sounds like an episode of it! I’d be really interested to know if your mom’s poster is really just a recreation or perhaps a copy of a real ad. Winter sports are some of my favorites to watch, so I really enjoyed your post.
I appreciate the determination you express to keep searching for information about this poster—that you weren’t satisfied by your first results and wanted to dig deeper and know more. We owe it to these objects to try to discern what their full history and stories are, as much as we can, as this may add to its significance and meaning to us. That’s wild about the value of the poster, which also shows the amount of (monetary) value we place on objects. In this case, this poster is a symbol of a noteworthy event—the first Winter Olympics—and is something I’m sure the small ski town is proud of, which perhaps why it’s worth so much. It’s neat to think that what started as a quirky little poster to you turned into a hunt for information, tracing its meaning, and discovering it represented more than realized upon first glance.
Carly, I really enjoyed reading your blog post from last week! I loved that you kept trying to research deeper into the origins of this poster. It’s crazy how a similar poster you found now goes for $4,000. It would be interesting to see what the poster your mom possesses now could be worth. I find it so fascinating how the monetary value of things change over time. To your mom, and many others with similar cases, the object can be priceless, an old memory from a while back that cost them next to nothing. However, with the new “vintage” trend that’s going on, and for other reasons, objects that were seemingly worthless possessions or souvenirs back then are now worth much more in our society as “collectibles.”
Carly,
As stated by the previous commenters, I appreciated that you took the time to really explore the origin of this object. Not only that, but you also delved into something we discussed in class which is the monetary value of some of the objects we keep. Reading about your mom’s poster makes me wonder how many objects I have in my household that may be significantly valuable. Things such as old collectibles, like your post, can often times be worth thousands of dollars and go unnoticed in the bottom of our junk piles in our homes. I have been inspired by this post to look further into some of my old objects and see what their history is, and whether or not the monetary value they once held is still significant today.
Carly, I loved your follow up blog about the poster that belonged to your mom. An added note regarding Antiques Roadshow. The show’s poster expert (yup, there is such a person) is named Nicholas D. Lowry. He works for Swann Auction Gallery in Manhattan. You might want to go on YouTube or PBS and see posters that he has appraised. It is amazing how valuable some of these items are. I am so glad that you chose to look into your mom’s poster further. I am also fascinated by the other example you shared with us. I am curious to see what else you may turn up in the future. Thanks so much for your post!