Zinal | Valais

Immediately after its foundation in the summer of 1937, the Union valaisanne du tourisme commissioned a poster from Eric Hermès to promote Valais as a tourist destination. Specifically, the brief was: landscape, sun, folklore. Hermès, who had already created a first poster for Valais in 1933 (see the link below), met to the fullest satisfaction: a summery landscape, a majestic mountain in the background, in the center a mazot on a goat shed, below on the right a farmer’s wife loading her mule with a bulging hay cloth.

So where is this farmer’s wife?

Well, the people in charge of the vacation resort of Zinal in the farthest Val d’Anniviers liked the poster so much that they wanted their own version with the village name – but without the farmer’s wife, which is why Hermès actually reworked the motif. Why the scene had to be removed can’t be really ascertained any more. Perhaps the mountain should be better emphasized?, because Zinal is still the starting point for 4000-metre tours in the Weisshorn group…?

maybe of interest as well:

Valais | Suisse