Aspen in all Seasons by [PAEPCKE, Walter (Developer) ; BERKO, Ferenc, KAESER, Fritz, RINGQUIST, Loey, HENRY, Patrick, & RICHARDSON, John D. (Photographers) ]

[ASPEN, COLORADO -- LAND PROMOTION]. Aspen in all seasons. [Real estate development promotional photo album filled with inviting images of vacationers enjoying the historic Hotel Jerome, the Four Seasons Club, the Aspens Rodeo Grounds, mountain climbing, playing tennis, and historic Victorian homes]. Aspen, CO: [Walter Paepcke, Aspen Skiing Company], [ca. 1950]. 4to. [20 pp (unpaginated) ], thick card stock mylar-covered leaves, title, and typed list of images mounted on front pastedown, w/ 20 original silver gelatin images tipped-in, sized 7.75 x 9.4 in. , and nearly all w/ photographer's stamps, and pencil annotations verso. Original padded simulated brown calf comb-bound album (spine rebacked, minor bumping to corners, very minor toning to fore-edges of title leaf on front pastedown) , still a VG exemplar. This splendid land promotion photo album offers an invaluable visual record of Walter Paepcke's post-World War II effort to remake Aspen, Colorado into a kind of American Athens which united art, ideas, architecture, music, and outdoor leisure activities into a popular destination. At the urging of his wife, Paepcke came to Aspen, Colorado just after World War II, and immediately saw the tremendous development possibilities, and began buying prime Aspen, CO Victorian homes, secured a 25-year lease on the historic Jerome Hotel, and the Wheeler Opera House, and organized the Aspen Skiing Company to build and operate the hotels, restaurants, and develop the ski industry. In 1949, he founded the Aspen Institute, and by 1949 made Aspen the site for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. The celebration featured such attendees as Albert Schweitzer, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Thornton Wilder, and Arthur Rubinstein. These images include a birds-eye view of Aspen and Red Mountain, the Hotel Jerome Lobby, Dining Room, mountain climbing, horseback riding, swimming in the Four Seasons Club, an informal rodeo at the Aspen Rodeo Grounds, and even restored Victorian homes. Most of these promotional images were taken by several famed Western photographers. These include Ferenc Berko (1916-2000) , who while teaching film & photography at the Chicago Institute of Design, was invited by Paepcke to photograph the Goethe Bicentennial, and enamored with the stunning vistas, relocated to Aspen, where he began promoting and documenting Aspen's growth as a cultural and leisure community; Fritz Kaeser (1910-1990) , world-renowned Aspen, CO ski photographer, trained with Ansel Adams, served with the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, and later operated the Aspen Photo Gallery/Studio that became the Mother Lode on Hyman Ave. ; and Loey Ringquist (1919-2006) , who first came to Aspen in 1949, and began her career with Patrick Henry at the Aspen Tintype Studio, and whose beautiful images included the mountain passes, ghost towns, abandoned mines, wildflower meadows, and other areas around Aspen. See: Mark Seal, For Love of Aspen, Vanity Fair, Jan. 23, 2014; Ferenc Berko, The Ferenc Berko Collection, Biography, Aspen, Colorado (2017) ; Tim Willoughby, Fritz Kaeser -- Roch and rocks, The Aspen Times, July 28, 2010; Loey Ringquist, Obituary, The Aspen Times, Nov. 22, 2006.