Feb 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2695 -

Sale 2695 - Lot 125

Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000

LEONETTO CAPPIELLO (1875-1942)

CINZANO. 1910.

55½x39½ inches, 141x100¼ cm. Lit. del Cinzano, Torino.
Condition A-: replaced lower left corner; minor creases and abrasions in margins and along unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds. Mounted on Japan.

Cappiello was the most influential poster artist of the first quarter of the 20th century, and also the most prolific. He began his career as a caricaturist for Parisian magazines, a style that is reflected in his earliest posters. His 1903 poster for Chocolat Klaus was a benchmark image for the artist, and revolutionary for his career and the world of outdoor advertising in general. With this poster he invented a new approach to poster design that featured brightly colored animals or characters that stuck in the public's mind so forcibly that they became icons for the brand. Following his own example he came up with a man riding bareback on a red zebra with a bottle of Cinzano vermouth in his hand. "What the red horse did for Chocolat Klaus . . . the [red] zebra did for Cinzano" (Rennert / Cappiello p. 118). Printed in Italy under the auspices of Vercasson in Paris, there are several text and size variants of this poster.

Rennert / Cappiello 153 (var), Wine Spectator 178 (var), Manifesti Italiani p. 54 (var).
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