Leonetto Cappiello (1875 - 1942)


Poster artist - Caricaturist - Commander of the Legion of Honor


How not to tell you about this star of the poster, when we are a shop of posters?!


Leonetto Cappiello was born in Italy, in Livorno, but lived mainly in Paris. Came for a month as a tourist, he ended up staying there for 35 years. “I love France like a lover loves his beloved. I love it for its beauty, for its spirit, for its harmony and his generosity. I love him for his great love of Art. I don't believe there is a country in the world where an artist is welcomed, appreciated, encouraged as in France”


He is recognized for having "reinvented the poster", thanks to a very modern style and a boundless imagination.

Leonetto Cappiello thought that the characteristic of an advertisement was to surprise. It is one of the first, for the time, to decorrelate the product sold from the representation on the poster. He participated in establishing the new canonical rules in matters poster.


Also a caricaturist, his style is very expressive. It illustrates strong ideas at a glance pencil. His graphic process is unique (whether in his drawings or his posters): a frank, linear, unified style, full of humor and joy, eloquent and colorful. Joseph Uzanne, an art critic, said of his prints that they were like “faithful mirrors that would trace along the way the thousand and one reflections of the amusing and colorful crowd”.

The characters in his posters are indeed often in motion, "in arabesque" on a plain colored background.


His first poster? The Frou-Frou!

Other famous advertisements followed: Cachou Lajaunie, Chocolat Klaus, JOB cigarette paper, etc., which have been exhibited beyond the world.


Fun Fact: he received the Legion of Honor in France (sign of recognition from the State), then one receives an additional rank, that of Commander of the Legion of Honor.


Why do we love it at Moryarty ? For its pop colors, which energize and jump eyes, and for his scenes of life full of humor, which put you in a good mood.


Where to enjoy it at home? In the kitchen, in the living room, for a retro atmosphere full of colors!