GIAN EMILIO MALERBA (1880-1926) E • & A • MELE & CI / MODE E NOVITA PER SIGNORA. Circa 1900.
80 1/2x57 1/2 inches, 204 1/2x146 1/2 cm. Ricordi & C., Milan.
Condition B+: expertly repaired tears, replaced losses and overpainting in margins and image; extensive overpainting in margins; creases and restoration along vertical and horizontal folds and seam. Two-sheets.
At the turn of the century, the department store E. & A. Mele & Cie commissioned numerous artists to create luxurious advertisements such as this promoting the civility, gentility and aquirability of their products to the well-to-do of Naples. Gian Emilio Malerba, Aleardo Villa, Marcello Dudovich and Leonetto Cappiello are among the best known designers who created advertisements for the company, often using large formats and sumptuous colors to entice the outwardly-focused upper class into their storefronts. Malerba, a native of Milan known equally as a skilled designer and painter, is believed to have made at least four posters for E. & A. Mele. This example focuses on women's fashion, highlighting two elegant women adorned in the store's fine garments walking through a park. Their beauty and style have apparently not only caught the attention of a gentleman in the background, but also that of the viewer, whose gaze is coyly met by the women themselves. We have found no other record of this rare poster at auction. Not in Ricordi.