Golden Mountain Pullman Express | Montreux – Interlaken
| Author | Roger Broders |
|---|---|
| Year of printing | 1931 |
| Printing Technology | Lithography |
| Printing Company | Lucien Serre |
| Condition | |
| Asking price (CHF): | |
| Leaf size (cm) | |
| Kategorien | by rail | by cable car, Bern(er Oberland), French-speaking Switzerland, Switzerland |
upon request
1 in stock
In 1931, a touch of the Orient Express could be felt in the Bernese Oberland, when four railcars ordered by the French Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits from SIG in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Schaffhausen, were put into service on the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway line between Montreux and Zweisimmen, along with two MOB-owned parlor cars —an exceptionally elegantly appointed train set, including a dining car, named after the American pioneer George Pullman (the company had since acquired the right to use his name in Europe, a name that, like no other before or since, stood for luxurious train travel).
The service was aimed primarily at affluent tourists from the U.S. and England, who were offered the utmost comfort on the journey from Lake Geneva through Château d’Oex and Gstaad, high into the Alps through truly magnificent Swiss scenery. And yet, the service came to an end after just three months. On the one hand, the global economic crisis had thrown a wrench in the operators’ plans; on the other hand, passengers were completely unaware that, due to differing track gauges, they had to transfer to the Bern Lötschberg Railway train in Zweisimmen on their journey to Interlaken (it wasn’t until the end of 2022 that a complex gauge-changing system eliminated the need to transfer).
That, however, was not yet foreseeable when it came time to promote the new Pullman line—though it was only natural that Roger Broders was the obvious choice to design the poster. This French commercial artist’s distinctive tourism posters did not merely shape the Art Deco era; he virtually defined the genre (much as Alfons Mucha was the epitome of Art Nouveau in Paris around 1900). His flat, colorful, and superbly composed designs still evoke a distinctive sense of depth that is hard for the eye to resist.
A masterpiece (even if you can't really see the Virgin Mary while driving) and one of the very few posters by Broders with a Swiss theme—and extremely rare on the market.
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