Château d’Oex – Alpes Vaudoises

currently not on site

The fact that the tourist office of Château d’Oex actually had Alex Walter Diggelmann’s 1932 design printed and advertised for itself is, firstly, evidence of a certain progressiveness on the part of those responsible and, secondly, makes this poster, in its absoluteness, one of the first to demonstrate to the broad masses in the streets where the future of skiing lies.

Until the end of the 1920s, ski posters (not only in Switzerland) almost always showed very distinguished, but also very awkward-looking people (unless they were cross-country skiers or ski jumpers) who seemed to be standing gracefully on their skis rather than skiing fast (which was by no means only due to the Telemark style that was prevalent at the time). Ski lifts did not yet exist, short alpine skis with steel edges had only just come onto the market and the parallel turn was still virtually unknown. But: Skiing had begun to shed its elitist image.

The fun of movement and the desire for speed attracted a wider audience, and mountains were now something to be experienced rather than feared – something Diggelmann knew how to showcase brilliantly (although admittedly he certainly knew André Le Comte’s poster – see below – and thus had at least as brilliant a role model): A ski racer on a rapid descent, yet tiny against the mighty, icy backdrop of the Gummfluh in the Vaud Alps. It is the action that counts, the self-confident certainty of being able to hold one’s own in such a setting, and to do so of one’s own free will, not because one has to. The person as such plays no role – so why show a face?

Diggelmann (1902 – 1987), for his part, was, as you might guess, a master of his trade, who brought new vigour to Swiss poster design from the end of the 1920s with his initially boldly angular, then soon boldly flat designs. Growing up in Unterseen between Lakes Thun and Brienz, he was a primary school teacher before training as a drawing teacher in Bern and then as an artist and commercial graphic designer in Paris and Leipzig; from 1928, he was a freelance graphic designer in Zurich, making him one of the first designers who had no actual academic training and who therefore found it easier to empathise with their clients. He created a total of around 200 posters, mainly for sporting events and holiday destinations; some of them are among the best Swiss posters ever. He also designed the medals awarded by the FIS at the World Ski Championships, as well as the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (now the Europa League).

maybe of interest as well:

Mürren