Tennis & Sports Posters at Swann on May 9
Swann Galleries’ Thursday, May 9 poster auction offers the world’s most pre-eminent private tennis and sport collection. With more than 100 scarce and desirable tennis posters coming to auction, this will be the largest collection of tennis posters ever to hit the market, in addition to other sporting images. This singular collection, spanning the 1890s through the 1950s, is the result of a family passion for tennis, fitness and art. The Schwartz family used posters to decorate their well-known clubs, resulting in an assemblage of rare and exciting images from all over the world.
Tennis poster enthusiasts will delight in seeing favorites, but will have the unparalleled opportunity to view and acquire images that don’t appear in the pages of the prominent books written about tennis posters. Rarities include over half a dozen Wimbledon posters designed for the London Underground in the 1930s with works by, Frederick Valentine Carpenter for the 1936 tournament, Eckersley-Lombers for the 1937 tournament, and Phyllis Bray for the 1938 tournament (est. $1,500-2,000 each). Roger Broders’s Monte Carlo, circa 1930, leads the auction (est. $8,000-12,000), alongside works by Edward Penfield with Western Lawn Tennis Tournament / Kenwood Country Club, 1896 (est. $7,000-10,000), and Leopoldo Metlicovitz with a E. & A. – Mele - & Ci. Napoli, billboard, 1907 (est. $7,000-10,000).
Other tennis highlights of note include Alfred Runge & Eduard Scotland’s Ester Preis / Kaffee Hag, 1915 (est. $3,000-4,000), Eduard Stiefel’s Klosters, 1926, (est. $4,000-6,000), Hans Rudi Erdt’s Lawn – Tennis Turnier / Heiligendamm, 1908 (est. $5,000-7,500), and Carlos Franz Moos’s Anglo – American / Mode U. Sport, 1908 (est. $6,000-9,000).
The auction is rounded out with a superb selection of sporting posters relating to cycling, aquatic sports, winter skiing, golf, as well as track and field, and gymnastics. Notable lots include Gino Boccasile’s water polo ad Federazione Italiana Nuoto, 1936 (est. $3,000-4,000); Walther Koch’s World Allround Speed Skating Championship ad Davos / Internationale Eiswettlaufen, 1908 (est. $3,000-4,000), and Marjory Hood’s Brockenhurst / Golf – Lawn Tennis – Hunting – Shooting, circa 1920 (est. $3,000-4,000).
A selection of Mather Work Incentive Posters close out the sale with A Just Decision / Fairness Keeps Friends, 1926 by Willard Frederic Elmes (est. $2,000-3,000), Are You Feeling Fit? / Keeping Well Beats Getting Well, 1929 (est. $2,000-3,000), and Let’s Learn To Listen! / Let’s Listen To Learn, 1927 (est. $1,200-1,800).
Exhibition hours are 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, and Monday, May 6, through Wednesday, May 8. Bidding is available through online platforms, absentee, the phone, and live in-person. Live online bidding platforms will be the Swann Galleries App, Invaluable, and Live Auctioneers. The complete catalogue and bidding information will be available at www.swanngalleries.com and the Swann Galleries App. For more information contact Nicholas D. Lowry at posters@swanngalleries.com or (212) 254-4710, ext. 53 (or) Lauren Cooper at lcooper@swanngalleries.com or (212) 254-4710, ext. 57.
