“High up in the mountains, far from here, there lives a little boy just like you.” The book that begins with this line enjoyed success worldwide. Around two million copies have been published since 1945, and it has been translated into ten languages. The creator of “Schellenursli” (A Bell for Ursli) is the painter and graphic artist Alois Carigiet, while the rhymes to the story were written by Selina Chönz. For generations Swiss parents have told their children and grandchildren the stories of Schellenursli or Flurina, while abroad the stories have contributed to the cliché of the Swiss mountain idyll.
Now to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Alois Carigiet (1902 – 1985) and the 70th birthday of “Schellenursli”, the Swiss National Museum in Zurich is paying tribute to the work of Carigiet. The title of the exhibition “Alois Carigiet. Art, Graphic Art & Schellen-Ursli” underlines that the painter from Grisons deserves just as much acclaim for his work as a graphic artist, set designer and painter as for his illustrated books. In tandem with the exhibition a book entitled “Alois Carigiet – Art, Grafik, Schellen-Ursli” has also been published, featuring numerous articles about Carigiet’s life.
Exhibition at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich until 3 January 2016 | Book: “Alois Carigiet – Kunst, Grafik, Schellen-Ursli” by Hans ten Doornkaat (Hrsg); Verlag Orell Füssli, Zurich; CHF 19.80 | www.nationalmuseum.ch
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