In the time between World War I and World War II, an artistic movement known as the Novecento was born in Italy. Artists of the Novecento looked back nostalgically at the values and lifestyle of pre-war Italy, while dreaming of an Italy that would once again be a world power.
Leonetto Cappiello was one such artist. A sought after caricaturist and cartoonist living in Paris before the war, Cappiello returned to Italy, became a part of the Novecento and helped to create Italian Art Deco. One of the first and greatest Italian Art Deco poster artists, Cappiello took on every commission as an opportunity to espouse his Novecento beliefs and promote Italy. His posters, though streamlined and simple, often contain subtle underlying meanings.
In Florio Cinzano, an advertisement for two Italian liquors, Cappiello depicts two zebras leaping across the page in front of a bottle of Florio and a bottle of Cinzano. One of the zebras is depicted in traditional black and white while the other is depicted in bold orange and red. This is the first time an animal is depicted in imaginary colors in the history of western art, and Cappiello depicted the zebra this way for a reason.
As a Novecento artist, Cappiello wanted to create art in his own unique style. Yet unlike his French contemporaries, he did not want to do so at the expense of his nation’s artistic legacy. The black and white zebra represents Italy’s past, glorious and beautiful. The orange and red zebra represents Italy’s future, based on the past, yet new and different.
Another classic Cappiello poster is Isolabella. In this work, Cappiello took the Arlechino figure from the Commedia Dell’Arte and transformed him into a sleek and sensual woman. This woman is almost mystical and commands a line of liquor bottles to swirl around her.
Each bottle can be taken to represent a contribution the Italian people have made to western civilization. The woman, a modern reincarnation of a Renaissance figure, showcases Italy’s many contributions. But she does so with her hand over her breast, in a gesture of humility. She wants no credit for her contributions but no one can deny their existence.
Cappiello would go on to create over 1,000 posters in the Italian Art Deco style throughout his career. His influence can be seen in a generation of Italian and European artists. As the style he helped to create became more commercialized, he took commissions from French firms as well as Italian companies. But it was his work for the nation of Italy that was so groundbreaking and inspirational as to earn the respect and admiration of his peers and art critics. That respect and admiration continues to this day, which is why Leonetto Cappiello is a master Italian artist.
