Official Olympic Posters from London

I didn't know this till recently, but Olympics have an official poster. And London has hosted the summer Olympics three times: 1908, 1948 and 2012.

So, if you're like me, you instantly think, "That could be a great poster set for any mid-century or mid-century modern home." Turn of the century, mid-century, modern – sounds like a perfect tryptic for any mid-century modern enthusiast who's also a sports fan, London fan, etc.

But, 1908 didn't have an official poster because the Olympics didn't start producing official Olympic posters till 1912. Still, there's an official Olympics program from 1908 designed by A.S. Cope:

OK, so 1908 is out for posters. A poster from 1908 would probably pretty rare anyways. That still leaves the mid-century and the modern poster.

Here's the 1948 official Olympics poster designed by Walter Herz:

But then the Brits had to get cheeky, there are 12 official Olympic posters for the 2012 Olympics. You can see all of them here.

13 posters is a lot. No one's that crazy about the Olympics (I don't think). So, let's narrow it down. The London 2012 Festival Official Guide has the poster designed by Rachel Whiteread on the cover:

And the 1948 Olympic Games Official Souvenir had that year's poster on the cover:

So, Rachel Whiteread's Olympic poster might be just a little more official than the other official Olympic posters.

And those two would make a pretty nice set next to each other in any mid-century modern house.

And as a conversation starter, you could point out that if you look closely at the hands on Big Ben in the 1948 Olympic poster, you'll see the time is 12:20. Or if you're British, 20 past 12. 2012.