Berna – Kraftwagen
1914
Emil Cardinaux's 1914 masterpiece of advertising art uses a brilliant visual metaphor to sell Swiss engineering. A colossal, golden-skinned giant with a fiery red beard strides across the landscape, carrying a massive boulder as if it were a pebble, while casually stepping over a Berna truck. A tiny man stands in the foreground, dwarfed by both the vehicle and the mythological figure, emphasizing the sheer scale of power being advertised. It’s a perfect example of early 20th-century poster design, equating the reliability of a motor vehicle with the strength of a titan.