MARIO BORGONI EGYPT / SAVOY HOTEL. Circa 1910. 561/2x403/4 inches. Richter, Naples. Condition A-: minor restored losses and repaired tears in margins; horizontal fold. Mario Borgoni became the artistic director of Richter & Sons in 1905. The company's aggressive salesmen traveled around Europe and the Middle East convincing local hotels to use their services. Borgoni himself designed a series of posters for different Egyptian hotels (Shepheard's Hotel, Hotel Casino San Stefano and the Mena House Hotel Pyramids). These were often reduced in size and issued as luggage labels. The Savoy opened in Cairo on November 28, 1898. It became one of colonial Cairo's most important and prominent addresses and served as the headquarters of the British Military during World War I. The Hotel was torn down by its owner in 1924. Borgoni signed most of his posters with his monogram, but the images are "distinguishable by the masterly treatment of the human figure and the setting of scenes against an early morning or late afternoon sky." (http://pagina.netc.pt/%7End24322a/Richter&Co.html) Here the image is simple yet exotic, and employs evocative colors to depict the sphinx and pyramids.
