An
Olympic poster promotes a specific edition of the Olympic Games.
Over time it becomes an image or symbol of that edition of
the Games and it usually is selected by the Organizing Committee.
The
first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896. No official
Olympic poster was created to promote the specific edition
of the Games. It was not until the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm,
that an official poster was planned for and executed.
Since
1912, host cities have been in charge of organizing the promotion
and advertising of each edition of the Games. In 1924, the
first Olympic Winter Games were held. Since then, official
Olympic posters haven been produced for both the summer and
the winter Games.
Selection process
In
order to create the official Olympic poster, the Organizing
Committee of each edition of the Games, generally sets up a
poster contest. This contest may be open to all, to artists
from the host country or to specific artists pre-selected by
the Organizing Committee. The poster that wins the contest
becomes the official poster of the Games and offers the artist
or designer the opportunity to have his work circulated throughout
the entire world.
Occasionally,
a poster design has managed to impose itself completely on
its own. For example, in 1920 the artwork on the official poster
came from the cover of a book called “Will we have the
VIIth Olympiad in Antwerp in 1920?”. The book was printed
in 1914. This image was already strongly identified with the
host city of the Games.
For
the 1952 Helsinki Games, the poster design that had been chosen
for the cancelled Games of 1940 was revived.
Artists
submitting designs for official Olympic posters are often given
strict guidelines for the content of the poster. The designer
does not necessarily have complete artistic freedom but must
often adapt to a certain image of the Games. This does not
mean that the end result is not of artistic merit of course.
