Leonetto Cappiello

Year: 1921

Size: 77 3/8 x 107 in./196.5 x 271.8 cm

Condition: A.

"Campari comes in two versions, the red Bitter and the white Cordial; here is Cappiello's graphic solution to promoting separate yet equal cocktail refreshments" (Cappiello/Rennert, p.215). 

78 x 108 in./198.1 x 274.3 cm
Imp. Devambez, Paris

“Campari comes in two versions, the red Bitter and the white Cordial; here’s Cappiello’s graphic solution to promoting separate yet equal cocktail refreshments” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 215). This is a two-sheet poster.

Year: 1903

Size: 38 7/8 x 52 1/8 inches

Condition: A- / slight tears at edges

An experiment in color: from "rubaudo," Cappiello sets the scene in nothing but tones of red and splashes of white, creating a vibrant, homey warmth that is radiant but not overpowering. The scene, though, is empowering: these charcoal briquettes are so easy to light, the lady of the house will do it herself—to the surprise of the attendant maid.

79 x 149 in./200.6 x 378.5 cm
Imp. P. Vercasson, Paris

“It is with this poster... that Cappiello firmly established himself as the master of the modern poster—if not modern advertising itself. He begins to slowly distance himself from caricature, not only in preoccupation but also in its form. With a newfound flamboyance of style and imagination, the artist pursued the posterist’s goal with a clarity and purpose that was to set him apart from all his colleagues. With this poster, Cappiello declared a new freedom from the restrictions and limitations of the previous realist and idealized realist renderings” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 66). This image of a green lady riding a red horse was so jarring to the public eye that few could forget it; therefore, the company chose to continue using it as its permanent logo from then on. This is a three-sheet poster.

78 x 124 in./198.1 x 314.9 cm
Imp. P. Vercasson, Paris

“Bastos are the ‘clubs’ suite in a Spanish deck of cards, hence the symbol on the logo, as well as the mirror-image approach also associated with playing cards, albeit normally seen in a vertical alignment. The generic figurines don’t represent any specific country or culture per se, but their billowing white robes set against the geometric rug-like treatment of the club motif in the background, makes for a most striking image” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 173). This is a five-sheet poster.

Year: 1922

Size: 55 x 76 7/8

Condition: A

One of Cappiello's most instantly-recognizable designs, we are presented with a whimsically-dressed lady offering up an oversized glass of Contratto champagne. This is the larger, two-sheet version of the poster.

77 3/4 x 146 7/8 in./197.5 x 373 cm

“Fleur des Neiges is one of the products of Biscuits Pernot; since it means ‘snow flowers,’ Cappiello creates a verbal association by giving us two lovely ladies worthy of the name, their scarlet coats like blossoms in the vast whiteness. Their placement at the bottom of the vertical design with a snowy landscape allows the artist to create a brilliant impression reminiscent of classical Japanese prints of similar configuration” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 83). This is a three-sheet poster.

83 x 125 in./210.8 x 317.5 cm
Imp. Devambez, Paris

When Cinzano merged with Florio in 1930, Cappiello was called upon to create a mate for the red Cinzano zebra he’d invented twenty years prior. And so, the white and blue Florio zebra was born, shown here leaping side-by-side with his new brand-brother in this four-sheet design.

78 3/8 x 117 3/4 in./199.2 x 299 cm
Imp. Devambez, Paris

“Here, the flame-hot ‘spirit of gas’ hovers over one of the Becuwe gas stoves (’Fourneaux’). The common denominator between [this and another design; see PAI-X, 149] is the near-photographic approach Cappiello used to render the appliances against the paper background. He varies the composition, but achieves the same stunning effect to entice the viewer. And seeing as the firm’s stove is considerably larger than their iron, the larger four-sheet format utilized here is proportionally appropriate” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 274).

100 x 153 in./254 x 388.6 cm
Les Affiches Lutetia / Devambez, Paris

This monumental, 13-foot-tall champion of the French culinary tradition is not celebrating olive oil, as you might expect. Instead, this ruddy-cheeked chef is pouring out extra-virgin peanut oil, sourced from Rufisque, a city in Senegal. His chef's hat and shirt bear the four-diamond logo of Lesieur, the popular cooking oil producer whose products are on virtually every French cook's shelf, even today. This four-sheet poster is the largest of three formats.

Year: 1912

Size: 63 x 45 1/2 in./160 x 115.5 cm

Condition: A.

Although the slogan reads "I only smoke Nil", Nil isn't actually a cigarette, but rather a brand of cigarette rolling paper. Nil claimed to be as "tough as an elephant's hide," which is how the company's spokespachyderm came to be. So this was an easy marriage between product and posturist, seeing as the elephant was a favorite Cappiello attention-getter. The Joseph Bardou company introduced Nil to the public in 1887. 

97 x 153 in./246.4 x 388.6 cm
Imp. P. Vercasson, Paris

“Cappiello showed the pleasure of smoking by projecting an image of a hedonistic Middle-Eastern potentate luxuriating with a self-rolled cigarette. In fact, the imperious pasha floats on his coach like a fat white cloud—an incongruous and therefore memorable image” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 156). This long-lasting design would see thirteen further printings; this is the largest, four-sheet format.

Year: 1907

Size: 7 x 9 3/4 inches. Softcover

The original softcover edition of this 127 page novel by Lucien Muhlfeld, illustrated by Cappiello. It is a satirical novel about Parisian society at the fin-de-siecle.

79 x 135 in./200.6 x 342.9 cm
Imp. P. Vercasson, Paris

Beginning publication in 1897, Le Cri de Paris was a satirical weekly put out by Louis-Alfred Natanson, who was also the co-director of La Revue Blanche. Between August of 1898 and June of 1902, Cappiello contributed numerous front and back covers, as well as this poster, “with caricaturistic portraits of cloaked and masked figures at a ball, no doubt whispering the latest news and gossip that they’ve just picked up from Le Cri. In his 1903 publicity flyer, Vercasson cited the testimonial of the paper’s editor, Marilhet: ‘Cappiello’s poster that you executed for us has resulted in numerous compliments, and from an advertising point of view, the poster produced all the results I could have wished for’” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 44). This is a three-sheet poster.

77 1/2 x 122 1/4 in./197 x 310.8 cm

This is the original larger, four-sheet version of the popular 1909 design that has become firmly and indelibly associated with this product. It’s just the kind of bold overstatement that Cappiello believed would most effectively deliver the message, even with regard to so humble a product as a heating pad. It became so well-equated with the product, in fact, that this image was reprinted in many versions and editions for more than 30 years.

55 1/4 x 86 in./140.4 x 218.5 cm
Imp. Devambez, Paris

“L’Avenir was a newspaper started in February, 1918, while the First World War still raged on, under the name Oui. When it was all over, in November of that year, it was decided that the paper, which was launched as a competitor for the ever-popular Figaro, would take on the name L’Avenir de Paris at the start of 1919. The poster shows Marianne, symbolizing France, revealing a sunny future for the paper—as well as for the country now freed from the burdens of war. The paper lasted until 1936; peace only three years more” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 192).

Year: 1906

Size: 47 x 63 inches

Condition: A

Cherry-flavored with a hint of quinine, Maurin’s apéritif was only recently reintroduced to French and international markets—more than a century after fading into obscurity the year this poster was printed. Referencing the infamous green fairy imagery commonly associated with absinthe, this green devil is one of Cappiello’s most famous characters. This is the smaller, one-sheet version of the poster.