Grindelwald – Wengen – Mürren | Jungfraujoch
| Author | Emil Cardinaux |
|---|---|
| Year of printing | 1920 |
| Printing Technology | Lithography |
| Printing Company | Unknown; probably the J. E. Wolfensberger Printing Company |
| Condition | |
| Asking price (CHF): | |
| Leaf size (cm) | |
| Kategorien | Bern(er Oberland), Switzerland, Winter motifs |
1 in stock
Original poster and an extremely rare text variant featuring the motif designed by Emil Cardinaux in 1919 for the second summer ski race on the Jungfraujoch, which the «leading winter resorts of the Bernese Oberland»—Grindelwald, Wengen, and Mürren for their own purposes around 1920 (just as, of course, the Jungfrau Railway—which opened for full operation in 1912—had its own versions printed, without which these ski races would never have taken place).
The first summer ski race took place at the end of July 1914, organized by the Bern Ski Club, before the Jungfraujoch Ski Club took over as organizer in 1919, with the aim of establishing the Jungfraujoch and the Aletsch Glacier region as one of Switzerland’s central ski resorts in accordance with its bylaws —undoubtedly in collaboration with the Jungfrau Railway and the three villages, which knew how to capitalize on the rapidly growing popularity of skiing to such an extent that they are now among the most famous winter sports destinations in the world.
Despite the melting, the Jungfraujoch still offers a breathtaking view of the snowfields that feed the Aletsch Glacier, the glacier itself, and the four-thousand-meter peaks in the background. Accordingly, the glacier is the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch.” The glacier is nearly 22 kilometers long and covers an area of about 80 square kilometers. At its deepest point near Konkordiaplatz, the largest glacier in the Alps is nearly 900 meters thick. All in all, there are about ten billion metric tons of ice here.
Cardinaux (1877–1936), a native of Bern, moved to Munich at the height of the Belle Époque at the age of 21 to study law—but instead of law, he was captivated by the city’s vibrant bohemian scene. He turned to art, came under the influence of the Symbolist Franz van Stuck, and, after returning to Switzerland in 1904, was soon regarded as a «Hodlerian.» To earn a living, he turned to applied graphic design, which was also emerging in Switzerland at the time, after two or three of the posters he had designed in Munich had already been produced. Today, he is regarded as one of the four or five most important pioneers of the modern Swiss poster.
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