Gurten Bahn Bern.

Gurtenbahn Bern AG, Bern, 1905

Description: Publisher: Gurtenbahn Bern AG, 1905 [1901]. Printer: Lithographische Kunstanstalt Hubacher & Co., Bern. Technique: Lithography. Size: 105 × 74 cm – 41¼ × 29 in.

Ref.: SBB Historic P_B02_0020de; Kneubühler 136

Condition: An original poster in very good condition, with no significant or at most slight signs of use commensurate with its age, such as slight folds, tears or bubbles. The colours are still deep and vibrant. Mounted on Japan.

Notes: This poster is the third edition of the design, which was in use with minor changes since 1901. It contains the summer timetable of 1905. Anton Reckziegel (1865–1936) was an artist who pioneered the advertising poster. But his name is hardly known outside a specialised circle of art historians and collectors. Reckziegel, born in Gablonz (today Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic) moved to Switzerland in 1893, where he worked as a lithographer, poster and postcard painter for various graphic companies. In 1909 he returned to Austria where he worked mainly as an artist and illustrator until his death in 1936. Landscape paintings and city views in naturalistic, sometimes romantically exaggerated renderings characterise Reckziegel’s artistic work. His main commissions as a poster designer included posters for railways in Switzerland, but also in Germany, Belgium and Austria. As a pioneer of this poster genre, he left his mark on the early railway and tourism poster. Various small-scale vedute complement each other to form an overall composition. Landscape sceneries are usually in the foreground, while smaller depictions sometimes also include intimate portrayals of figures or detailed views.