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Leonetto Cappiello Biography
Leonetto Cappiello (b. 1875 in Livorno,
Italy; d. 1942 in Cannes, France) was an Italian poster art designer
who lived in Paris. 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 Cheret, Alfred Choubrac and
Hugo D'Alesi. Cappiello, like other young artists, worked in 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.
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.
Cappiello started his career as a caricaturist 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, and his caricatures were published in Le Rire for the
first time.
Cappiello made his name during the poster boom period in the early
20th century, with designs markedly different from premier poster
artist Jules Chιret. His first poster, for the newspaper Frou-Frou,
was made in 1899. He signed first contract for posters with printer
P. Vercasson in 1900.under whom he created posters between He was
married to Suzanne Meyer Cappiello 1901. Between 1901 and 1914, he
created several hundred posters in a style that revolutionized the
art of poster design. Cappiello redesigned the fin-de-siθcle
pictures into images more relevant to the faster pace of the 20th
century. During this period, Capiello continued as a caricaturist.
During World War I, Cappiello worked as in Italy an interpreter.
Afterwards, he devoted his career fully to poster design. In 1919,
he signed a contract with publisher Devambez, and remained with the
agency until 1936 .
Over the course of his career Cappiello produced more than 530
advertising posters which surprise and delight the viewer.
Today, his original posters are still collected, sold at auction and
by dealers around the world. |
