DIE KLEINE GESCHICHTE
DER ST.MORITZER PLAKATE 1894 - 2021

Cultural Event curated by Carolin A. Geist and Virginia Fleming

Press Release

…A short story divided in three sections :

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1. At the beginning and at the end was Manufactura Engiadina – Young local art

2. In the beginning there was the first commercial poster from 1895- Cultural history

3. At the beginning oft he tour was Giovanni Segantini-Art history of St. Moritz

This autumn, Galerie 10 is presenting an exhibition that dares the balancing act between young contemporary art and the local cultural and art history of St.Moritz. The content is structured accordingly.

In the summer of 2020, the project of the Manufactura Engiadina (www.manufacturaengiadina.com) emerged into a

competition in which local artists in cooperation with the municipality of St. Moritz, were given the opportunity to design the official St. Moritz poster for the summer of 2021.

Out of all 17 participants, the crystalline vision of Aaron Schwarz stood out for the jury. A landscape of longing, which captured the radiance of summer, the suggestion of winter, nature, the urban- alpine uniqueness of St. Moritz, the worldliness, as well as the tranquility.

All 17 posters are exhibited and can be purchased.

In order to show the visitor the works of the young artists in the context of the cultural history of St. Moritz, the curators researched the history of the town, and expanded the exhibition by including a reappraisal of the history of St. Moritz’s posters, which begins with the first commercial posters from the 19th century and ends with the future poster from 2021. The various stages are dealt within chapters.

Did you know, for example, that the first posters of St. Moritz were not even created by the Kurverein as a commission? At that time was no spa association. The very first posters ironically came from France and were advertising material for the East French Railway Company, which wanted to attract new customers on its routes.

The very first commercial poster of St. Moritz dates back to 1895 (but- there are commercial posters of the Engadin from the 1890s- therefore the chronology in the title starts one year before the first St. Moritz poster).

In the course of the research the curator Carolin A. Geist came across the wondrous story of the “Segantini-Fundes”: In 2007, Mario Häfliger and Marius Hauenstein found two boxes in the attic of the Protestant Church of St. Moritz…A real treasure! Two original Segantinis had been sleeping in there for 109 years! Giovanni Segantini painted two tapestries as posters for the 1898 Kantonal Sängerfest. Their story is presented in the front room of the exhibition, and the originals are on display.

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Text: Carolin A. Geist