WALTER HERDEG (1908-1995) ST. MORITZ. 1934. 40 1/4x25 inches, 102 1/4x63 1/2 cm. Orell Füssli, Zurich. Condition A- / B+: foxing in bottom margin and lower image; small abrasions at edges; tape-repaired tear and restoration at bottom edge. Paper. Herdeg was a graphic designer who studied under Ernst Keller at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Zurich. He served as Art Director for the famed Alpine resort of St. Moritz from 1932-38. "'My job,' he states, 'was to bring people to St. Moritz. I knew that if I did abstract designs most people would not understand and so would not be motivated. I had to create an atmosphere that gives one the desire to breathe fresh air, soak up warm sun and ski. So I knew I must have color.' His decision to apply bright colors with an airbrush to his inventive photomontages was concurrent with Herbert Matter's now iconographic Swiss tourism posters" (Heller, AIGA, 1987). It was a "revolutionary, identity campaign. As Herdeg notes, 'I was heading up a corporate design program without knowing that such a thing existed.' . . . this was certainly the first time a health resort ever tried to do 'corporate design.' Herdeg created a memorable campaign based on a delightful trademark of a brightly shining sun which, to his credit, is still used today. And which he proudly had carved onto a ring that he always wears" (ibid.). Herdeg was also the founder of Graphis, the influential graphic design magazine. Fotoplakate 135, Swiss Winter Sports 22, Schweiz p. 216.
