Did you know that the 1952 VI Olympic Winter Games in Oslo had 3 different official posters? They issued 3 different motives but if you look closely you find several variations.
So how did these become the official posters? A poster competition was held in 1950 with 113 submittet entries but none of the entries was found satisfactory by the committee. However 3 prizes were awarded and the first price was awarded to Harald Blomberg with his entry “Merke-Supplement”, followed by M. Ottar Michaelsen's "Mens sana in corpore sano" and Knut Yran's "Kjerringa med staven".
Bellow you can read the official Olympic report concerning the official posters:
Poster competition
The first results were not quite satisfactory, but the prizes were awarded nonetheless. Thereupon a new, closed competition was held among the artists who had been given prizes. This competition was won by Knut Yran, who had two drawings approved by the jury. The publicity committee agreed with the emblem and poster committee's decision, and recommended that the Organising Committee use one of Yran's drawings as the main poster (62 x 100 cm) and the other for a smaller poster (35 x 50 cm).
The main poster was printed in the above size (international standard measurements). It was meant for billboards and bulletin boards. The smaller poster was intended for small display windows, travel bureaux, hotels and ships. A number of copies of the smaller poster were pasted onto cardboard to which were attached both a loop and a base so that they could be hung on a wall or set up on a counter, cupboard etc.
Both posters were printed lithographically. The main poster was printed with Norwegian, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and German texts, and the smaller poster had an additional text in Finnish. More than 30,000 copies of the main poster were printed, and 12,000 of the smaller one. 3,600 of the latter were pasted on cardboard.
Distribution of Posters was planned by the publicity committee, and went through the following channels: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Norwegian diplomatic posts abroad, the National Olympic Committees, and the international sports federations, the Norwegian State Railways, the Norwegian Travel Association, the Oslo Travel Association, Norwegian shipping lines, Norwegian and foreign airways, and a number of newspapers within Norway and abroad. Posters were also sent out whenever specially requested.
Ample proof was given that the posters were well placed in strategic positions all over the world, and requests came in for them right up to the day before the Games began.
Welcoming Poster
The publicity committee took the initiative to have a special poster made to be used in the city decorations during the Winter Games. This poster was designed by Helge Kittelsen, printed in 79 x 100 cm size, mounted on double boards, and hung on more than 300 lamp-posts throughout the whole city. The design was built up around the word Oslo, made as a silhouette of the City Hall, against a background of snow crystals and blue winter sky. There were three lines of printed text: "(Oslo) greets you—vous salue—hilser sine gjester."
The poster was a colourful part of the city decorations during the two weeks it was displayed.
Please let me know if you have other variations!
