Printed Originals presents
Leonetto Cappiello Original posters · Livorno 1875 – 1942
One figure. One dark ground. Nothing else.
II · The Cappiello revolution
Before him, posters were crowded. He emptied them.
The usual way · Jules Chéret, 1892
- What you see
- A laughing girl in a giant hat, ringed by six lines of lettering
- The ground
- Pale and airy, sprayed blue behind her
- The product
- Spelled out: the address, the hats, who they are for
- From across the street
- A pretty picture you have to stop and read
His way · Le Thermogène
- What you see
- One fire-eater, flames from his mouth
- The ground
- Flat dark brown
- The product
- A wad of cotton held to his chest
- From across the street
- The only thing you see
He sold a heat plaster with a man breathing fire.
What changed
Jules Chéret, the “father of the modern poster”, had filled the Paris walls with painterly, crowded posters like our 1892 Halle aux Chapeaux. Cappiello went the other way: bold colour, simple shapes, one figure, set on a flat ground, usually dark, so it jumped off a wall full of other posters. He called the secret of a good poster the “arabesque”: one strong moving curve. And he stopped showing the product doing its job. Thermogène was a cotton plaster laced with capsicum; he drew a fire-eater. Our copy was printed later, in Brussels, by Imprimerie Marci; we have not yet dated it.
III · Close reading · Le Nil, 1912
An elephant that sells cigarette papers.
Why this poster
Joseph Bardou & Fils of Perpignan made cigarette papers; their Le Nil line was launched in 1887. Cappiello gave the brand one image: a white elephant in a shawl, striding through the night. The poster never shows a cigarette. Poster House in New York holds the same design at the same scale, printed by Vercasson.
IV · Campari
1921. A spirit in an orange peel.
Hung at true relative size. Printed in his lifetime on the left of the line; official re-issues, printed after his death, on the right.
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Bitter Campari · the spiritello rises from the peel Devambez, Paris–Torino, 1920s
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record → -
Cordial Campari · Pierrot drinks in the dark MAGA, Paris · “Création juillet 1921”
Available · from £14,970.00 · View this poster →
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Campari · the two-faced clown, Bitter and Cordial Officine Grafiche Ricordi, Milan
Available · from £920.00 · View this poster → -
“Campari” l’aperitivo · the spiritello, re-lettered Officine Grafiche Ricordi, Milan
Available · from £870.00 · View this poster →
Same picture. Thirty years apart.
One design, many printings
Campari commissioned the spiritello in 1921. It was printed in several sizes through the 1920s, by Devambez in Paris and Turin; our Bitter Campari carries that imprint, so it was printed in Cappiello’s lifetime. From about 1950 Campari had the designs printed again by Officine Grafiche Ricordi in Milan, with new lettering. These are official, and real posters, but not period printings. Each carries a posting licence, “Affissione autorizzata il …”, that dates the printing.
V · Vermouth
A red zebra for a vermouth.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art, which holds the 1910 Cinzano, calls it radically different from the drinks posters of its day: instead of a beautiful woman, a zebra, and the product becomes unforgettable.
Vermouth Martini Designed c.1913; an authorised edition of about 1957.
Available · from £650.00 · View this poster →
Contratto, Canelli “Cappiello 1925” in the picture; this copy is a later printing.
Sold · Printed Originals Archive · View the record →
The product never explains itself.
VI · Signatures
Read the margins before the picture.
Almost every Cappiello poster carries his brush signature, drawn on the stone. What tells you when it was printed is the small print in the margin: the printer, and the date it was licensed for posting.
Plate-signed
Drawn on the stone with the picture and printed on every copy. On a poster printed in his lifetime, with a period printer such as Vercasson or Devambez in the margin, this is an original Cappiello.
On this poster: his brush signature “LCappiello”, drawn on the stone, on Cognac Pellisson (Vercasson, Paris). Available · from £1,230.00 · View this poster →
Show all 3 in the archive ↓
After Cappiello
Printed after his death in February 1942 from his design, usually as an official re-issue for the brand. A real poster, and his picture, but not a period printing.
On this poster: the same printed signature, with “Officine Grafiche Ricordi · Milano” beneath: a post-war re-issue. Available · from £1,370.00 · View this poster →
Show all 8 in the archive ↓Unsigned original
Printed in his lifetime without his signature showing, such as our 1921 Cordial Campari, whose photograph shows only the agency’s imprint.
Show this poster in the archive ↓Hand-signed
Signed by Cappiello by hand on that copy. We know of no reliable example on a street poster. None in our archive.
VII · The Printed Originals Cappiello archive
Every Cappiello poster we have held.
9 available now · 3 sold. Each poster is split by when it was printed, and marked for how it is signed. Sold posters show no price.
VIII · Collecting
Six questions before you buy.
Hand-signed, plate-signed and after: what do the terms mean?
Plate-signed: his brush signature was drawn on the stone and printed with the picture, so every copy has it. Hand-signed: signed by him on that copy; we know of no reliable example on a street poster. After Cappiello: printed after his death in February 1942 from his design, often as an official re-issue for the brand.
How do I know it was printed in his lifetime?
Read the margin. Vercasson (1900–14) and Devambez or “Affiches Cappiello” (the 1920s) are lifetime printers. A Ricordi poster with a posting-licence date after 1942 is a re-issue. If there is no printer’s line, ask why.
Is a later printing worth buying?
Yes, if it is labelled as one and priced as one. Campari’s Ricordi re-issues and Martini’s authorised edition are real posters, printed for the brands. They are not period printings. Modern “after Cappiello” reproductions are art prints, not posters; we do not sell them.
Stone lithograph or offset?
His lifetime posters were drawn on stone. Under a loupe, stone gives solid, slightly grainy colour; offset breaks into a regular pattern of dots. Some later official printings are lithographs too, so the printer’s line still matters.
Why are there so many sizes?
Brands printed the same design for different walls: Campari printed the 1921 spiritello in at least four sizes. Size is a check, not proof.
Condition and framing
Many posters were folded for posting, and several of ours are backed on linen. We grade condition in six steps and describe every mark (condition grading). Framing is optional, and all our framing is conservation framing (framing original posters).