Lot 121: [ Olympic Memorabilia ]

A rare poster commemorating the 20th anniversary of the decision to re-establish the Olympic Games in 1894, a colour lithograph by the Swiss artist Edouard Elzingre (1880-1966), signed in the plate, published by Atar of Geneva in 1914, the image 102 by 72cm., 40 by 28 1/4, mounted, framed & glazed, minor creasing, otherwise in very good condition The anniversary was commemorated on the occasion of the 6th Olympic Congress, held in Paris in June 1914. The Congress took place at the large amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, the precise place where the modern Olympic Movement was born and the IOC created 23rd June 1894. The 1914 Congress was also the occasion that the Olympic Rings were adopted. The Rings had been designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the Modern Olympic Games, in 1912. In his own words the "The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914 ... five intertwined rings in different colours-blue, yellow, black, green, and red-are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition." According to De Coubertin the ring colours together with the white background stood for all the colours that appeared on the national flags of the world at that time. However, with the outbreak of the First World War the Olympic Rings would not fly at a Games until Antwerp in 1920.