Created in 1935 by E. Paul Champseix, this original French travel poster promotes the Téléphérique d’Artouste in the Ossau Valley, at the heart of the French Pyrenees. The cable car connected the valley with the high mountain landscape above Artouste, offering visitors a spectacular new way to discover this remote region of Béarn.
Champseix places the viewer directly above the clouds, facing an immense panorama of jagged summits and snow-covered peaks. A small cable-car cabin hangs above the valley, suspended between the steep rocky cliffs. Its modest scale emphasizes both the grandeur of the landscape and the technical ambition required to make these mountains accessible.
The composition is structured around the strong diagonal movement of the cables, which lead the eye from the foreground toward the distant peaks. Ochre, red and brown rocks contrast with deep greens, icy blues and luminous areas of snow. The painterly treatment gives the poster a remarkable atmospheric quality while retaining the immediate visual impact required of successful travel advertising.
This example is an avant-la-lettre version, without the promotional typography found on the fully lettered edition. The inscription at the lower right records that the design received both the Challenge Cup and the Gold Medal at the International Tourist Propaganda Poster Competition held in Kraków in 1935—an important distinction confirming the contemporary recognition of Champseix’s composition.
Printed in lithography, this original poster combines technological modernity with the romantic appeal of high-altitude travel. Its award-winning design, rare before-lettering format and dramatic depiction of the French Pyrenees make it particularly desirable for collectors of vintage travel, railway, cable-car and mountain posters.
Original poster
Railway - Pyrénées -Atlantiques - Béarn
Poster before the letter stuck on Carton
Good condition, small tears
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