NEW YORK, NY.- Active bidding by collectors for classic Art Nouveau images, American and international ski posters and select Israeli advertisements resulted in Swann Galleries’ highest grossing February poster auction ever.

Nicholas D. Lowry, Swann President and Posters Specialist, said, “This auction resulted in an almost 50 percent increase in dollar value over the same auction last year. The auction was brisk and successful, with a happy combination of blue-chip items selling at strong prices and robust prices for pieces outside the mainstream.”

Among those blue chips were several beautiful images by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha, whose 1896 set of four decorative panels depicting The Seasons was the top lot at $78,000. Also by Mucha were two variations of Reverie, one, from 1897, which brought $18,000; the other, circa 1898, $13,200; and Étoile Polaire, and Étoile du Soir, 1902, $7,800 each.

Other Art Nouveau highlights included Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s La Revue Blanche, Paris, 1895, $28,800; the large Sutro Baths, by an unknown artist, San Francisco, 1896, which tied the existing auction record price of $19,200; Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s beloved poster featuring cats, Lait Pur Stérilsé, Paris, 1894, $15,600; and, another Steinlen, this one of a rooster, Cocorico, Paris, 1899, $14,400; Ferdinand Louis Gottlob, 2e Exposition de Peintres Lithographes, Paris, 1898, a record $13,200; and Privat Livemont’s Absinthe Robette, Brussels, 1896, $10,200.

A particularly strong selection of posters related to Israel and other Jewish subjects featured Miskovitz’s [The Promised Land], in Hungarian and Romanian, circa 1930s, advertising the first movie filmed in Palestine, $13,200; Rico Blass’s [Jewish Brigade / Your Place is Here], 1942, $8,400; Their Way is Ours / Every Jew Votes Revisionist, $5,280; and The Jewish Fund, London, 1920, $5,040.

A section of ski posters drew a lot of interest. Among the top sellers were Emil Cardinaux’s Palace Hotel St. Moritz, Zurich, 1920, $11,400; Augustus Moser’s Union Pacific / Sun Valley Idaho, circa 1940, a record $10,800; and Dwight Clark Shepler’s Sun Valley / “Round House” on Baldy Mountain, Chicago, 1940, a record $7,800. An assortment of Dartmouth Winter Carnival images included T.H. Joanethis’s 1938 design, $5,520, and Joseph Binder’s circa 1950 poster, which included the Jantzen logo, $5,280.

Rounding out the sale highlights were a very scarce poster for W.F. Cody / Buffalo Bill, Paris, 1905, $15,600; one of only two known copies of Olympia, Prague, 1938, $10,800; Symeon Shimin’s “Jim Crow is his enemy – America’s enemy – my enemy,” circa 1948, $5,040; and Niklaus Stoecklin’s image of eggs frying in a pan, E Guete!, 1961, $5,760.

Complete auction results are available online at www.swanngalleries.com, and by request from Swann Auction Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. A fully illustrated color catalogue can be purchased for $35.