Nike Vintage Posters : How they turned into Art pieces

Every kid who wanted to be like Michael Jordan or Karl Malone had a poster of his idol stuck to the wall in his bedroom, staring at it for hours and dreaming of becoming one of these athletes. The world famous sportswear brand Nike was sponsoring some of these superstar athletes in different sports such as André Agassi, Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, John McEnroe and so on. Among the products the brand started to release from the late 1970s were some eye-catching posters at a time when paper advertisement was still very powerful. These prints display famous and unknown atheletes bearing a powerful message and the brand’s core values.

Even if Nike mainly produced these posters until the late 1990s, these pieces have gained attention from collectors over the past few years and prints that used to be stuck on your bedroom wall and cost $5 are now exhibited in some galleries and museums, they have become an inspiration for some world famous artists such as Jeff Koons and they may fetch up to several thousands dollars at auction for the rarest pieces.

These Nike posters displayed with a nice frame, besides remembering to the sport nostalgics their childhood, will give a great sporty and vintage style to your walls. In this article we will explore the different type of posters that Nike has produced over the years and analyze some of the most iconic ones.

Jeff Koons - Board Room Nike Poster (1955) Sold for $146,500 at Christie’s (New York, 2011) ©CHRISTIES.COM (edited by Patine Gallery) — Jeff Koons - *Board Room* Nike Poster (1955)
Sold for $146,500 at Christie’s (New York, 2011)
©*CHRISTIES.COM* (edited by Patine Gallery)

The Classics

The first Nike posters were produced in the late 1970s at a time when the brand products were mostly running shoes before expanding to other sports and products later, thus explaining why runners are mostly illustrated in the first Nike posters.

In 1976 Nike hired John Brown & Partners as its advertising agency which created its first brand ad called There is no finish line in which no Nike product is shown. The goal of this campaign was to display and share the corporate identity and values of the brand more than just sport products. Posters bearing this message are among the first advertisement products made by Nike and symbolize the beginning of Nike marketing actions. From around 1976 to 1979, art director Denny Strickland and copy writer John Brown were responsible for Nike posters conception and helped to lead the company to a national and later international success.

The Supreme Court is also one of the first and rarest Nike poster with many of the NBA greatest players of the late 1970's and very early 1980s gathered in one picture such as Phil Chenier, Michael Campanella Russell, Dennis Johnson, Truck Robinson or Alvan Adams and Austin Carr. This poster features the twenty-two members of Nike’s Pro Club, a group of Nike-endorsed NBA players chosen as representative of an elite and enviable group called in this scene “Supreme Court'“. We may also mention that this poster is of higher quality than most of the other posters produced by Nike as it is professionally laminated which helps avoiding creasing, bubbles or film overrun. Therefore not only is the staging and message similar to what we may find in a an art piece but also the quality of the print.

The Black & Whites

Nike produced black and white powerful posters where the emphasize is set on the message of the brand and give an even more vintage look. Among them, Wings poster of Micahel Jordan poster is one of the most iconic images of the player who was in contract with Nike from 1984. The original version was produced in 1989 by Nike, the year Michael Jordan hits The Shot, the name of the series-winning basket hit by Michael Jordan in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference first round against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It is considered to be one of Jordan's and overvall basketball game greatest clutch moments.

On the bottom of the poster is mentioned William Blake’s quote : No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings. This adage of wisdom means that one just can’t persevere in absolute isolation and that we all need to hold one another’s hand to seek the higher things in life.

The tennis legend John McEnroe was also endorsed by Nike from 1978 and from this collaboration resulted one of the most iconic sneakers model of the brand, the Nike Air Trainer 1, a mid-cut shoe made for training across multiple sports.

In one of the posters using John McEnroe image to promote Nike products, the tennis star is wearing the tennis version of the Nike Air Trainer model on a rainy Manhattan day. This poster is an homage to James Dean, with tennis' perfect rebel, John McEnroe, walking through Times Square in a trench coat with the powerful motto Rebel with a cause on the bottom of the print.

Another iconic athlete of the late 1980s is Bo Jackson who is as famous for his sportive performances as much as for the products he endorsed. Nike introduced the idea of Cross-Training in the late 1980s as a response to the fitness craze and Bo Jackson became the face of the Nike products developed for this new discipline with the marketing slogan “Bo Knows”. Bo was the perfect athlete to embody this new marketing campaign as he excelled in football, baseball and track & field. The different commercials and advertising posters played on Bo Jackson’s innate ability to take on any sport from surfing to tennis or even formula one racing.

The Superheroes editions

Among the most sought after Nike poster are the superheroes series imagined by Peter Moore (Nike’s creative director back in the days) with the assistance of the photographer Chuck Kuhn. The Nike marketing got creative and instead of just displaying athletes on a court playing sports like any other sport posters, Moore created a serie of superheroes athletes wearing costumes and performing superhuman actions acts.

The athletes were also given superheroes nicknamed such as Silk, Iceman, Chocolate Thunder and Dr. Dunkenstein, that captured the imagination of children from all over the world. For exemple, the Moses poster displays the former NBA superstar Karl Malone dressed as Moses that just opened a sea of balls, such a creative and nice piece !

These posters were even appropriated by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons as part of his Equilibrium exhibition in 1985. A few months ago two of Jeff Koons posters from the 1985 series sold for $146,500 and $185,000 at auction proving us that these Nike posters have really become pop culture icons and art pieces. Fortunately all these pieces aren’t worth these prices and some of these superheroes posters can still be found at reasonable prices, from around 100$ up to 300 to 400$ for the most limited edition and those in the best condition.

Artistic & colorful imageries

Contrary to the black and white posters mentionned earlier, Nike has produced some very colorful images with a pop art style, emphasizing on the aesthetic rather than on the message delivered. In this style is the Look, up in the air commercial made for the release of the Nike Air Jordan 2 display Michael Jordan dunking in a electric purple background.

The tennisman André Agassi joined Nike team in 1986 and become a prominent figure of the brand. The athlete represented the rebel culture of the 1980s with his long hears, earring and eccentric fashion style. In the 1970s and 1980s pop and street art are the growing artistic trends in the USA, launched by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol or Keith Haring. Nike used also the codes of this art movement in his commercials, such as in the portrait of A.Agassi represented in different electric green tones in a very graphic style who reminds comic strips.

In 1996 one of the most emblematic movie for a whole generation released : Space Jam. This film describes an alternate history of what happened between Jordan's initial retirement from the NBA in 1993 and his comeback in 1995. Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and his friends help the basketball start to win a basketball match against a group of aliens. In the movie the characters wear Air Jordan products such as clothing and pairs of sneakers designed especially for the movie release ( the Air Jordan 11 Space Jam and Air Jordan 7 Hare for example). The Space Jam products were also released to the public and several commercial using punchy cartoon colors and staging Michael Jordan with Looney Tunes heroes were produced including posters. Another Space Jam is rumored to release in the upcoming months featuring this time Lebron James in the top role.

* Price checks aim to give a subjective estimated value of an artwork or object regarding the different prices we have observed on the market. Please note that this value may vary from one seller to another and from the time the article was written.

Nike Vintage Posters : How they turned into Art pieces

The Classics

The Black & Whites

The Superheroes editions

Artistic & colorful imageries

* Price checks aim to give a subjective estimated value of an artwork or object regarding the different prices we have observed on the market. Please note that this value may vary from one seller to another and from the time the article was written.