The 20s and 30s
In the twenties, a new illustrative poster style was originated by Ernst Keller. He stylised shapes to the utmost degree and focused equally on the lettering and colouring during the designing process. The Basel-based artists Niklaus Stöcklin, Peter Birkhäuser, Fritz Bühler, Donald Brun und Herbert Leupin developed the Basel Realism and established the famous Swiss Object Poster. In the thirties, artists like Edouard Stiefel, Charles Kuhn or the Zurich-born Karl Bickel had a talent for creating picturesque posters that give off a cheerful and optimistic mood rather than just selling a product or promoting a destination.
Herbert Peikert created unforgettable travel posters that are bold, detailed and still elegant and are very popular among collectors today. Peikert was regarded as a purposeful and persuasive advertising artist who skilfully integrated brand names and company logos into the visual language of his posters.
At the end of the thirties and in the early forties, painters such as Pierre Gauchat, Pierre Monnerat and especially Alois Carigiet, Hans Erni and Hans Falk revived the “gallery of the streets” with their interesting and picturesque posters. They were influential artists in Switzerland who mainly created cultural posters but also a few advertisements for products.
Alois Carigiet became famous in the thirties for his many original posters, Hans Erni was known for his magnificent and often surrealistic designs and Hans Falk for his beautiful, very carefully and attentively designed posters.