The short Day, 1925/26

Pristine and enchanting in its elemental beauty, Alfons Walde (1891–1958) depicts in his oil-on-cardboard painting The Short Day of 1925/26 the alpine winter landscape with its snowy mountain peaks, dense coniferous forests, and a group of snow-capped small chalets, sunk in the whiteness of the landscape and casting hard shadows in the low late-afternoon sun. Walde returned to Kitzbühel in 1918, specializing on landscapes and alpine motifs. With the skill of a sought-after commercial artist, the trained architect gained international attention in the early 1920s, when winter tourism and the winter-sports industry were first taking shape. Walde used photographs to find pictorial subjects for his posters. His balanced compositions, oscillating between simplified forms and sophisticated detailing, became so popular that the artist set up his own postcard-publishing company and also brought out many of his most successful motifs as oil paintings on cardboard that were offered in three different sizes.

MH, 2021