Glarnerland and Walensee

This striking original Swiss travel poster was designed by Herbert Matter in 1936, promoting the alpine regions of Glarnerland and Walensee. A masterful example of Matter’s pioneering approach to photomontage, the composition juxtaposes a monumental portrait of an elderly Swiss mountaineer in traditional attire with a dramatic alpine landscape. Snow-capped peaks rise behind him, while a powerful waterfall cascades down a sheer rock face. On the verdant hillside, grazing cattle, a herdsman, and vividly colored alpine flowers bring life and scale to the scene.

Matter’s innovative blending of photography and graphic design gives the poster a modern, cinematic quality that was revolutionary for its time and highly influential in 20th-century graphic design. The contrast between the monochrome figure and the richly colored landscape emphasizes tradition meeting nature, a hallmark of Swiss tourism imagery of the period.

Printed in Switzerland and professionally mounted on linen, the poster shows visible age wear, including edge wear and areas of crumbling consistent with its age. Despite this, it remains a highly desirable and historically important work by one of Switzerland’s most celebrated graphic designers.