With exuberant images and bold color, like the laughing elephant against a bright red background in “Bardou,” extraordinary poster artist Leonetto Cappiello (1875 -1942) created groundbreaking advertisements in his lasting images. By turning advertising posters into a contemporary art form, Cappiello used his vivid, jovial images to help sell products while still creating marketable art. The most acclaimed European artist of the early 1900s, Cappiello crossed stylistic boundaries to create an astounding 1000 artworks, which continue to profoundly impact lithographers today.

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