Leonetto Cappiello

LEONETTO CAPPIELLO (Livorno, 1875 - Cannes, 1942).
"Portrait of Henri Lavedan", ca. 1902.
Ink and charcoal on paper.
Signed in the upper margin.
Size: 30 x 34 cm.
In this ingenious portrait of his friend the French playwright Henri Lavedan, the draughtsman Leonetto Cappiello brings together his passion for the Japanese style, appreciable in the serpentine stylisation, and a refined humour,
Leonetto Cappiello is considered one of the fathers of modern advertising. He was an Italian publicist, illustrator and caricaturist. Based in Paris at the turn of the 19th century, he became a naturalised French citizen in 1930. After studying in Livorno, he published his first album of caricatures at the age of twenty. Settling in Paris in 1898, where he began his career as a cartoonist, he worked for many newspapers, including Le Rire, Le Sourire, L'Assiette au Beurre and Le Cri de Paris. A year later, he achieved great success with the release of a portrait album published by La Revue Blanche in 1899, and his career as a poster artist began the following year and continued until 1930. He remained loyal to the Vercasson printing house until the early 1920s, while working regularly for the Devambez publishing house. Cappiello is also known for his illustrations for books such as Voltaire's The Princess of Babylon and Apollinaire's The Assassinated Poet, and for his portraits, including those of Henri de Regnier and his brother-in-law Paul Adam. Among his most famous posters are: Cachou LAJAUNIE (1900), La Rose Jacqueminot de Coty Perfume (1904), Klaus Chocolate (1905), Thermogen (1909), Cinzano (1910), Bouillon Kub (1911), JOB cigarette paper (1912), Savour the Savour (1930), Bally Shoes (1931), Bouillon Kub (1931), Dubonnet (1932).