Emil Cardinaux

The importance of Emil Cardinaux

Next to Burkhard Mangold, Emil Cardinaux was one of the pioneers of the artist poster, within Switzerland as well as from an international point of view. At the start of his career, he received an honourable mention as one of the 14 most promising painters of the time for his first poster design at a Swiss Federal Railways competition. It was his design for “Oeschinensee”, created in Paris in 1904.

The chocolate manufacturer Villars subsequently commissioned Cardinaux to design two advertisements. These posters, “The fox and the raven” and “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, still convey a humorous yet artistic advertising message today, more than 100 years later. A great many of his far more than 100 posters in the areas of product advertising, transport, events, politics and especially his beautiful travel posters are among the pioneer works of Swiss poster art.