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Home A brief history of the poster in Switzerland The beginnings of Swiss poster history

The beginnings of Swiss poster history

The creations of the French Belle Époque was a major influence on other European countries.

By 1900, the pictorial poster had also established itself in Switzerland; whereas previously advertising posters had merely served the purpose of announcing a message and usually appeared as a hand-set letterpress poster, they now had to meet artistic requirements.

The Swiss painters used Jules Chéret’s model and applied the artistically refined advertising style from France. Emil Cardinaux, Burkhard Mangold and Otto Baumberger are regarded as the most important Swiss poster pioneers; other poster artists in Switzerland with particularly significant works were Wilhelm Friedrich Burger, Augusto Giacometti, Robert Hardmeyer, Walter Koch, Otto Morach and Carl Moos. These painters laid the foundations for a productive and innovative poster art scene in Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century.

From the 1900s onwards, the ornamentation of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil was increasingly replaced by a simple design style in the German ‘Plakatstil’, which was reduced to the essentials: object and brand name. The first ‘Sachplakat’ posters (object posters) were created with a radical focus on the product to be advertised.

Emil Cardinaux, Zermatt, 1908. Image: Artifiche AG. The Bernese artist Emil Cardinaux learned how to lithograph and was familiar with the technique’s possibilities. He recognised that lithographic poster could achieve high lightfastness, great luminosity and the greatest possible long-distance effect at the lowest possible cost. No better example than the ‘Matterhorn’ poster of 1905 proves this.
Emil Cardinaux, Zermatt, 1908. Image: Artifiche AG. The Bernese artist Emil Cardinaux learned how to lithograph and was familiar with the technique’s possibilities. He recognised that lithographic poster could achieve high lightfastness, great luminosity and the greatest possible long-distance effect at the lowest possible cost. No better example than the ‘Matterhorn’ poster of 1905 proves this.
Burkhard Mangold, Rollschuhbahn im Tonhallepavillon Zürich, 1910. Image: Artifiche AG. The idiosyncratic Basel poster pioneer Burkhard Mangold designed painterly, delicate posters with clearly structured surfaces.
Burkhard Mangold, Rollschuhbahn im Tonhallepavillon Zürich, 1910. Image: Artifiche AG. The idiosyncratic Basel poster pioneer Burkhard Mangold designed painterly, delicate posters with clearly structured surfaces.
Otto Baumberger, PKZ, 1923. Image: Artifiche AG. The Zurich artist Otto Baumberger was the brilliant master of large, often monumental imagery achieved with minimal illustrative and colourful means.
Otto Baumberger, PKZ, 1923. Image: Artifiche AG. The Zurich artist Otto Baumberger was the brilliant master of large, often monumental imagery achieved with minimal illustrative and colourful means.
Wilhelm Friedrich Burger: Jungfraubahn, 1914. Image: Artifiche AG.
Wilhelm Friedrich Burger: Jungfraubahn, 1914. Image: Artifiche AG.
Augusto Giacometti: RhB Graubünden, 1924. Image: Artifiche AG.
Augusto Giacometti: RhB Graubünden, 1924. Image: Artifiche AG.
Robert Hardmeyer, Waschanstalt Zürich AG, 1905. Image: Artifiche AG. Hardmeyer’s poster for the Waschanstalt Zürich set a precedent with its use of an anthropomorphic animal figure.
Robert Hardmeyer, Waschanstalt Zürich AG, 1905. Image: Artifiche AG. Hardmeyer’s poster for the Waschanstalt Zürich set a precedent with its use of an anthropomorphic animal figure.
Walther Koch: Wintersport in Graubünden, 1907. Image: Artifiche AG.
Walther Koch: Wintersport in Graubünden, 1907. Image: Artifiche AG.
Otto Morach: Taxameter – A. Welti-Furrer AG Zürich, 1923. Image: Artifiche AG.
Otto Morach: Taxameter – A. Welti-Furrer AG Zürich, 1923. Image: Artifiche AG.
Carl Franz Moos: Chocolat Klaus, 1905. Image: Artifiche AG.
Carl Franz Moos: Chocolat Klaus, 1905. Image: Artifiche AG.

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