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Leonetto Cappiello
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| • Nationality: French |
| • Roles: Painter, Printmaker, Illustrator, Sculptor, Poster Artist, Dessinateur, Affichiste, Peintre |
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Leonetto Cappiello |
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Born in late 1875 Livorno, Italy; died in Provence, 1942.
Although chiefly remembered for his posters (+/- 3000), which have been proclaimed as the first original breakthrough in French advertising art after Cheret, and for his paintings and murals, Cappiello began his career as a celebrated caricaturist and humorous draftsman and until 1904 -when he finally abandoned caricature for poster design- Cappiello’s specialty was the satirical portrait of celebrities, especially theatrical, and scenes of the haut monde and the demimonde.
Cappiello had a natural talent for drawing, and his first ambition was to be a great painter. He started studying art with a painter’s career in mind, but meanwhile, purely as a hobby, he would make a quick sketch of anybody who caught his attention – relatives, home town characters, an occasional interesting tourist. Soon, he found that these quick caricatures were always favorably received, and by the time he was 21, he was able to make a little money by having the best of these homespun drawings published in booklet form in 1896 with text by G. Targioni-Tozzetti, co-librettist of Cavalleria Rusticana (1890).
That may not have swayed him in itself, but two years later, in 1898, he took a trip to Paris to visit his older brother who happened to be working there at the Stock Exchange (Parisian Bourse), Cappiello persuaded Puccini, in town for the successful French premiere of La Boheme, to sit for a caricature. His brother told him that various magazines might pay a good price for caricatures of celebrities, particularly ones that have not been done to death already.
Since that was true of most of the regular Paris stars, Leonetto approached two famous visitors who were just then staying in town, and who, being fellow Italian, might be willing to give an untried kid a break: actor Ermete Novelli and composer Giacomo Puccini. They obliged, and Leonetto promptly sold the sketches to Le Rire; they were so well received that within weeks, he became the favored caricaturist of theater and cabaret stars of Paris.
Cappiello submitted work to many of the various French satirical periodicals including: Le Figaro, Le Gaulois, Le Journal, Le Theatre, Le Frou Frou, La Baionette, La Rampe, Le Sourire, and Le Cri de Paris- However, his artistic career was solidified by his early contributions to Le Rire.
These early illustrations by Cappiello under the editorial guidance of Arsene Alexander at Le Rire were instrumental in the start of the young artist’s career, and their importance to the serious collector cannot be underestimated as they were the breeding ground which fomented Cappiello’s ‘Contemporains’ series. When a competing editor, Alexandre Natanson (captain of the financially struggling journal La Revue Blanche) capitalized on the young Cappiello’s vision by ‘commissioning’ the artist to publish a portfolio of drawings under the title ‘Nos Actrices’ (Our Actresses) the ‘Contemporain’s Celebres’ series was already a well developed idea over at Le Rire.
Hastily pushed to press, and published in 1899, the Natanson backed 'Nos Atrices' was a resounding success and critics have since claimed that the book launched Cappiello’s career as a poster designer in earnest. Such liberties taken by critics (typically more familiar with the haughty Revue Blanche) give incorrect credit to the Natanson brothers as furthering Cappiello’s meteoric ascent as a rising star. It seems curious that these histories have routinely ignored Cappiello's earliest work which firmly establishes both a style and vision of Cappiello as a caricaturist while publishing with Le Rire. Considering the potential profits Alexandre's Le Rire was denied by the guiling Natanson brothers, one wonders -if only as an act of belated poetic justice- if perhaps Arsene Alexandre shouldn’t get more credit for ‘discovering’ the young Cappiello.
Still, regardless of where credit is placed, Cappiello might have remained a professional illustrator if one of the editors to whom he routinely submitted sketches had not asked him to prepare a poster for a new humor magazine he was launching, Le Frou-Frou. Cappiello used a simple caricature in his usual style – a can-can girl kicking up her skirts – but now he had to use color, so he opted for a plain yellow background and a dab of red on the pantaloons peeking out from under the petticoats. The rest is poster history.
Sources:
-Appelbaum, Stanley. French Satirical Drawings from L'Assiette au Beurre. Dover, 1978.
-Rennert, Jack. Posters of the Belle Epoque: The Wine Spectator Collection.
-Waller and Grace Seiberling. Artists of La Revue Blanche. Catalogue. Memorial Art Gallery U. of Rochester, 1984.
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