Details
The image
A snow field rising to a ridge, skiers drawn small against the slope, the sky left flat and pale. The composition is diagonal and open and the lettering sits unobtrusively at the base. Colour is limited to two or three cool notes.
Where it comes from
Swiss ski resorts built their advertising on a simple proposition: the mountain exists, come and stand on it. Posters of the 1920s and 1930s answered with space rather than detail, a slope, a figure, a horizon, because flat colour printed well and because emptiness suggested altitude better than a crowd.
On the wall
It behaves like a window, which makes it useful in small rooms. A hallway, a bedroom or a narrow wall suits it and the cool palette balances warm furniture and strong textiles. In a bright room it reads as light; in a dark one it stays quiet.
In company
Pairs well with other alpine posters and with photography of mountains and it looks right at the end of a corridor. In a group it should be the calmest piece. A pale wood frame keeps the snow reading as snow and the picture needs a wall with a little light on it, in a dark corner the slope flattens into a grey band. Other sheets in the Vintage collection work the same way on a wall.
