St Moritz White Rabbit Snow Bunny Poster – Alex Walter Digglemann – 1930
There is no doubt that the St Moritz white snow rabbit is a famous and iconic symbol of the famous ski resort and one of its first guest houses, the Steffani Hotel. The Steffani was the hotel that many of the officials and athletes stayed at for the duration of the Games. As a thank you to the hotel a water fountain statue of the now-famous rabbit was presented to the Steffani family. It has been standing outside of the Hotel’s front door ever since.
The success of the second Winter Olympics and the publicity and public attention the Games generated brought new interest from tourists drawn to the resort. To capitalise in 1930, the St Moritz tourist department commissioned the Swiss artist Alex Walter Digglemann to create a poster to promote the area as a skiing destination. Digglemann revisited the tale of The Steffani Rabbit for his design. The poster depicts a white rabbit sitting on a mountain of deep powder snow. It is set against a rich blue background. The image was a big hit. It went on to cause a sensation when it was awarded first prize in the advertising logo category at the 1928 World’s Fair in Chicago. The image has appeared on mugs, t-shirts, posters, matchbooks, bracelet charms, metal signs, and even stamps.
Since then the rabbit became recognized as the personal mascot of The Märky Family, The Steffani, St. Moritz, and the Engadin. The snow bunny became the logo of the Steffani Hotel itself, in addition to becoming an emblem synonymous with the world-famous winter holiday destination of St. Moritz. The St Moritz rabbit poster image was reused on several occasions over the next couple of decades. In the 1930s, the Steffani Hotel created their own version of the poster with the St Moritz wording changed to read Steffani. In the 1940s, the image was used for two versions that read Lapella Original and Lacotana Original wording on them. In the 1950’s Digglemann revisited the poster to feature the resort’s new logo. the sun. The artist turned the beautiful and realistic-looking rabbit into a cool Zoomorphic downhill skier with a red vest featuring the new sun symbol logo.
This poster caused a sensation when it was awarded first prize in the advertising logo category at the 1928 World’s Fair in Chicago. From then on, his fate was sealed. He became a logo and has remained so to this day, unchanged by the way, as unchanged as his position in front of the Steffani Hotel’s front door.
If you are lucky enough to have ever been to St Moritz, you will know that this image is a popular sight around the resort. So if you’re looking for a unique and stylish reminder of your time at one of the most famous resorts in the world, you’ve found it! Our high-quality reproduction St Moritz poster will be a perfect way to remember your time there and to share your experience with others.
Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.
The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £15. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.
