St. Moritz, Engadine – Winter Sports

Hugo Laubi’s galloping racehorses bursting with power, with the snow-covered mountain scenery in the background providing a rich contrast: Undoubtedly one of the best-known and most sought-after original posters with which St. Moritz advertised itself in the interwar period – and which, with a corresponding text, also promoted the International Horse Races on the frozen Lake St. Moritz (now known as White Turf) for years.

The original design, used up to and including the beginning of 1926, dates from 1924; it featured a somewhat bulky font, while the jockey on the left wore a greenish jersey and the one on the right a reddish one. In the course of 1926, Laubi revised the motif for the first time, probably without having to produce new lithographic stones: The lettering now appears lighter and the overall color scheme stronger, with the horses darker and the jockey on the left dressed in red and the one on the right in green. The version offered here is very likeli the first of this refreshed series and the only one to advertise St. Moritz itself.

After training as a lithographer and printer, Zurich-born Hugo Laubi (1888 – 1959) continued, like so many of his fellow Swiss artists, his education in Munich and Paris, interrupted by a few months in London before returning from Paris in 1914. From 1918 he was the artistic director of the Fretz brothers’ print shop; he quit in 1920 to spend almost a year in Philadelphia and New York. After his return to Zurich, he worked as a freelance graphic artist and illustrator, designing a number of posters for touristique resorts, voting committees, sporting events and consumer products and being, by the way, an outstanding rider himself who won several races in Switzerland.

Due to the success of this horse motif, the organizing committee of the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz entrusted him with the design of the Olympic poster, which is similarly coveted today.

Please note: The unprinted edge was cut away on each side, which is why the sheet measures only 125×87,5 cm instead of approx. 128×90,5 cm.