Leonetto Cappiello Mossant
Buy this print on Etsy →A masterclass in bold, witty advertising, this is Leonetto Cappiello's poster for Mossant, the famous French hatmaker. With his trademark economy, Cappiello reduces the whole idea to a single unforgettable image - a sharply dressed figure and a gleaming black bowler hat, set against a plain, glowing ground so it leaps out from across the street. It is graphic, confident and instantly memorable, exactly as its creator intended.
Cappiello (1875-1942), the Italian who conquered Paris, is often called 'the father of modern advertising,' and this poster shows precisely why. Before him, adverts were cluttered and literal; he swept all that away and built each design around one striking character or object floating on a bold colour field - an approach so revolutionary that it defined the look of the modern poster. Mossant, one of France's great hat manufacturers based in Bourg-de-Péage, was just the kind of stylish client his method suited perfectly, and the result turned a simple hat into an emblem of elegance.
Everything about the design is built to sell sophistication: the dashing silhouette, the flat expanse of colour, the sleek Art Deco lettering. It is a wonderful document of an age when a good hat was the finishing touch to any outfit, and when poster art was raising commercial printing to the level of gallery painting.
As wall art it is effortlessly stylish. The bold palette and clean composition make it a natural for an entryway or dressing room, a closet or boutique, a home bar, office or gallery wall. It is a brilliant gift for lovers of vintage fashion and menswear, milliners and hat collectors, Francophiles and admirers of Art Deco and classic advertising, and it pairs beautifully with other Cappiello and Belle Époque prints.
Because the original was published in the early twentieth century and Cappiello's work is now in the public domain, we are able to reproduce it at full museum quality.
Each print is a archival-matte reproduction on premium archival matte paper, faithfully capturing the bold colour, crisp lettering and warm vintage tones of the original lithograph - ready to frame and enjoy for years to come.
