?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
EMIL CARDINAUX (1877-1936)
SPRING IN SWITZERLAND. 1921.
40x25 inches, 101 1/2x63 1/2 cm. Wolfsberg, Zurich. Condition A-: small repaired tear at right edge; minor restoration along vertical and horizontal folds. Framed.
Cardinaux studied painting with Germany's Franz von Stuck, and also worked in Paris before returning to Switzerland, where he became one of the founding fathers of Swiss poster art. He came to national (and international) attention in 1908 with his famous poster for Zermatt; the work boldly depicted the Matterhorn, using flat colors and broad outlining, becoming a landmark of Swiss graphic design. He designed posters for the men's store PKZ and other Swiss products and services, but he is best known for his travel posters, with their evocative, painterly and impressionistic style. Cardinaux is mostly sought out for his winter scenes of Switzerland. But his soft, watercolor style was equally effective in presenting the beauties of other Swiss seasons to the traveling public. This is one of two posters commissioned by the Swiss Office of Tourism "to draw the attention of the traveling public to the resorts located on the shores of the Swiss lakes" (Paradis p. 12), depicting landscapes and people with a languid grace and subtle beauty that was a hallmark of his style. This is the smaller format, English version. Paradis p. 8, Cardinaux 77, Touristik 7.
