Leonetto Cappiello
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Leonetto Cappiello (9 April 1875 – 2 February 1942) was an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and French poster art
designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
and painter, who mainly lived and worked in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
."Cappiello (Leonetto)." Museum of Advertising (Musee de la Publicite).
He is now often called 'the father of modern advertising' because of his innovation in poster design. The early advertising poster was characterized by a painterly quality as evidenced by early poster artists
Jules Chéret Jules Chéret (31 May 1836 – 23 September 1932) was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of ''Belle Époque'' poster art. He has been called the father of the modern poster. Early life and career Born in Paris to a poor bu ...
,
Alfred Choubrac Alfred Choubrac (30 December 1853 – 25 July 1902) was a French painter, illustrator, draughtsman, poster artist and costume designer. Together with Jules Chéret he is considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern coloured and illustrate ...
and Hugo D'Alesi. Cappiello, like other young artists, worked in a way that was almost the opposite of his predecessors. He was the first poster artist to use bold figures popping out of black backgrounds, a startling contrast to the posters early norm.


Biography

He was born in
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
in Tuscany. He would die in
Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
in France. Cappiello had no formal training in art. The first exhibition of his work was in 1892, when a painting was displayed at the municipal museum in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
. Some of his paintings are on display in the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori in Livorno.


Caricatures

Cappiello started his career as a
caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Abril Lamarque (1904–1999) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfre ...
illustrating in journals like Le Rire, ''Le Cri de Paris'', ''Le Sourire'', ''L'Assiette au Beurre'', ''La Baionnette'', ''Femina'', and others. His first album of caricatures, ''Lanterna Magica'', was made in 1896. In 1898, he moved to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and his caricatures were published in ''Le Rire'' for the first time. In 1902, a 24-page book of his caricatures was published entitled ''Gens du Monde'' 'people of high society' for the magazine ''L'Assiette au Beurre''. The following year, a 38-page book entitled ''Le Théâtre de Cappiello'' 'The theatre of Cappiello' was published for a special issue of ''Le Théâtre magazine'', with captions written by theatre critics. In 1904, his work was reviewed along with that of Sem and Carlo de Fornaro.Christian Brinton, "Sem, Cappiello, and Fornaro", ''The Critic'
45:545-556
(December 1904)
Cappiello began to move away from caricature work favouring posters. In 1905 a final publication ''70 Dessins de Cappiello'' '70 drawings by Cappiello' by H. Floury, included black and white lithographic prints, as well as a handful of colour images produce by the process of pochoir. The technique was popular at the time as a way of adding colour to an image relatively cheaply, and would involve colour being hand painted onto an image with stencils. Cappiello made his name during the poster boom period in the early 20th century, with designs markedly different from premier poster artist
Jules Chéret Jules Chéret (31 May 1836 – 23 September 1932) was a French painter and lithographer who became a master of ''Belle Époque'' poster art. He has been called the father of the modern poster. Early life and career Born in Paris to a poor bu ...
.Jack Rennert. ''Cappiello, the posters of Leonetto Cappiello''. . His first poster, for the newspaper Frou-Frou, was made in 1899.


Vercasson

Cappiello’s career as a poster artist began in earnest in 1900 when he began a contract with the
printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...
Pierre Vercasson. In this period, the printers would act as an agent for artists and commission work to them. Vercasson had a print house, and his goal was to bring vibrancy and colour to the streets of Paris, he wanted the posters that he produced to stand out from the rest and attract lucrative new advertisers to his agency. Of course living in Paris, he was aware of the current art scene, and had seen many examples of Cappiello’s work, including a small number of posters already produced and in particular those fo
Le Frou-Frou
He knew that Cappiello had the potential to be exactly what he was looking for. The relationship commenced with the arrangement that Vercasson would find the clients and brief Cappiello on the product. It was then up to Cappiello to produce a sketch for the client for which he would receive the fee of 500 francs, a good amount at the time. Once the design had been approved by the client a full size design would be produced for the poster at a size of 1x1.4m, an old French paper standard known as the Double Grand Aigle. Cappiello would also be responsible for ensuring the successful transfer of the design onto
lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...
stone ready for printing. He was married to Suzanne Meyer Cappiello in 1901 and his brother Oreste was married to Camille, sister of the painter
Alfredo Müller Alfredo Müller (June 30, 1869 – February 7, 1939) was a Franco-Italian painter and printmaker of Swiss nationality. As a painter from Livorno, he might have belonged to the group of the :it:Postmacchiaioli, Postmacchiaioli, together with Mari ...
. Between 1901 and 1914, he created several hundred posters in a style that revolutionised the art of poster design. Cappiello redesigned the '' fin-de-siècle'' pictures into images more relevant to the faster pace of the 20th century. During this period, Cappiello continued as a caricaturist. During World War I, Cappiello worked as an interpreter in Italy.


Devambez

After the First World War Cappiello returned to producing posters. His first meeting with Devambez in 1918 marked the start of a long discussion: three years later he signed an exclusive contract with the Paris publisher for whom he designed now famous icons: such a
KubCampari
Parapluie Revel, Pirelli
Chocolat Klaus
an
Poudre de Luzy
and the famous entertaine
Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris
Unlike Vercasson, Devambez did not have its own print house, and had the posters printed at a number of large printers. The agency concentrated on finding new clients from across Europe, and successfully spread Cappiello’s celebrated works across the continent. He remained with the agency until 1936.


Legacy

Over the course of his career Cappiello produced more than 530 advertising posters. Today, his original posters are still collected, sold at auction and by dealers around the world.


Selected lithographs

Image:A family demonstrating underclothes sold by "Docteur Rasurel Wellcome L0023026.jpg, ''Sous Vetements Hygieniques'' ( underclothes ad for Docteur Rasurel, 1906) Image:Plakat Cappiello - Maurin Quina 06.jpg, ''
Maurin Quina ''Maurin Quina'' is a French apéritif advertisement painted by Leonetto Cappiello in 1906. It is perhaps Cappiello's most famous poster.National Gallery of Australia"Maurin Quina."/ref> The image features a devilish figure sneakily de-corking t ...
'' ( French
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
ad, 1906) Image:Affiche_Cognac_Pellisson.jpg, ''Cognac Pellisson'' (
cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cogn ...
ad, 1907) Image:Leonetto Cappiello - Thermogène warms you up - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Thermogène'' (ad for a
cough A cough is a sudden expulsion of air through the large breathing passages which can help clear them of fluids, irritants, foreign particles and Microorganism, microbes. As a protective reflex, coughing can be repetitive with the cough reflex fol ...
and
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...
remedy, 1909) Image:Asti Cinzano poster, by Leonetto Cappiello.jpg, ''les pirates'' (
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
vermouth Vermouth (, ) is an Italian aromatized wine, aromatized, fortified wine, flavored with various Botany, botanicals (roots, Bark (botany), barks, flowers, seeds, Herb, herbs, and Spice, spices) and sometimes Food coloring, colored. The modern ve ...
ad, 1910) Image:An old man in night-clothes holding up a box of "Uricure" pi Wellcome L0023027.jpg, ''Uricure'' (ad for a
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...
,
gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
and
arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...
remedy, 1910) Image:A man in theatrical costume advertising Vilajuiga mineral wa Wellcome L0023029.jpg, ''Aigua de
Vilajuïga Vilajuïga () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Cataloni ...
'' (Spanish mineral water ad, 1910) Image:A nursemaid (?) holding a senile man in her lap and feeding Wellcome L0023028.jpg, ''Maraliment'' (ad for a brand of seaweed soup, 1920) Image:PBaroni.jpg, '' Pates Baroni'' (
pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...
ad, 1921) Image:Poster 13154.jpg, ''Bitter Campari'' (
campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an aperitif, apéritif of the ''bitter'' variety (and not an amaro) by Italians while considered an apéritif of the Amaro (liqueur), amaro variety by Americans, obtained from the infusion of ...
ad, 1921) Image:Lgst2859.jpg, ''Cafe Martin'' (ad for a coffee company in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, 1921) Image:Victoria Arduino, 1922.jpg, ''La Victoria Arduino'' (
espresso Espresso (, ) is a concentrated form of coffee produced by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Originating in Italy, espresso has become one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods worldwide. It is cha ...
ad, 1922) Image:Cappiello Contratto.jpg, ''Contratto'' (
liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...
ad, 1922) Image:Parapluie-revel.jpg, '' Parapluie Revel'' (ad for a luxury umbrella manufacturer Revel,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, 1922) Image:Chłopiec na zebrze.jpg, '' Chłopiec na zebrze'', (
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, 1926) Image:Cappiello Jacqueminot.jpg, ''La Rose Jacqueminot'', Coty, (perfume ad, 1904)


See also

*
Poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...


References


External links


Leonetto Cappiello: Father of the Modern Poster

Cappiello.fr



Leonetto Cappiello Originals for Sale
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cappiello, Leonetto 1875 births 1942 deaths Italian illustrators 19th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian poster artists People from Livorno Italian expatriates in France 19th-century Italian male artists Italian advertising artists and illustrators