Cardinaux’s Matterhorn poster reshaped Swiss poster art

Emil Cardinaux’s 1908 Matterhorn poster for the resort of Zermatt helped usher in modern Swiss poster design, SRF reports. The work is featured in the exhibition “Highlights of Swiss Poster Art” at Villa Bührle in Zurich.

The poster shows the Matterhorn brightly lit against a violet background. Cardinaux, a Bern-based painter and poster artist, belonged to the so-called Hodlerians, a group known for strong colours and monumental compositions inspired by Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler.

Cardinaux mainly painted Swiss landscapes and mountains. As a poster artist, however, he recognised that posters did not need to be created as permanent works: they had to attract as much attention as possible at low cost.

His Matterhorn poster is considered the first modern Swiss poster. Its direct and monumental design, using only four words, was almost a shock to viewers in 1908.

“Cardinaux’s revolutionary poster introduced a completely new design form and a more dynamic approach to tourism posters,” curator and gallery owner Beatrice Müller told SRF. The exhibition was organised on her initiative, and Cardinaux is her favourite artist.

Müller has focused on advertising posters since 2010, after previously working in advertising. She keeps a collection of several thousand posters at her Artifiche gallery in Zurich. Through the nonprofit association Vipart, which she founded, she is presenting the exhibition at Villa Bührle.

The villa housed the art collection of the controversial industrialist and collector Emil Bührle until just over a decade ago. A prominently designed sports car from a series by US artist Jeff Koons now stands outside the building. Müller said it was provided by a passionate poster collector from Zurich’s automotive industry.

The exhibition presents more than 100 posters. Most date from between 1900 and the 1950s and advertise tourism destinations and transport companies. Another focus is consumer-goods advertising.

Examples include Alex Walter Diggelmann’s “Gstaad” from 1934, Walter Herdeg’s “St. Moritz” winter collage from 1937 and Cuno Amiet’s “Bahnhof Büffet Basel” poster from 1921. Consumer-goods posters include Niklaus Stoecklin’s “Bi-Oro – Sonnenschutz” and his “Binaca” toothpaste advertisement, both from 1941.

“Highlights of Swiss Poster Art” is on display at Villa Bührle in Zurich until October 18. Admission is free.