Papillon Noir 1921

Papillon Noir, 1921 - a museum-quality fine-art reproduction of Leonetto Cappiello's inventive poster for Cirage Creme Papillon Noir shoe polish.

Against a blazing golden-yellow field, a lithe figure in a crimson bodysuit crowns himself with the great black wings of a butterfly, its markings glowing like fiery eyes. He strides forward astride an enormous gleaming black shoe, a polishing brush in one hand and a tin of Papillon Noir shoe cream held out in the other. It is one of Cappiello's most surreal and memorable conceits: the humble product elevated into a strange, grinning sprite that no passer-by could forget.

Cirage Creme Papillon Noir - 'Black Butterfly' shoe cream - is transformed by Cappiello from an everyday household good into pure theatre. The audacious pairing of scarlet, black and yellow and the impossible, dreamlike figure show exactly why his posters changed the language of advertising.

Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942) is often called the father of modern advertising. Rather than picturing a product plainly, he attached to each brand one unforgettable character that leapt off the wall - a method that reinvented commercial art and shaped poster design for the entire twentieth century.

The work belongs to the great age of the French poster, when colour lithography allowed artists such as Cheret, Mucha and Cappiello to fill the streets of Paris with vivid imagery and turn advertising into sought-after collectable art.

Displayed at scale, this poster is pure energy. Its hot yellow ground and bold black-and-red figure bring humour, warmth and graphic punch to a living room, hallway, home office, dressing room or studio, and it works beautifully as a single statement piece or as the anchor of a gallery wall of vintage advertising prints.

Printed to order on premium 189 gsm museum-grade archival matte paper with fade-resistant pigment inks for rich, gallery-quality colour and crisp detail. Choose your size from the drop-down menu - 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 or 24x36 inches. Carefully packaged and shipped rolled in a sturdy tube (or flat for the smallest size); frame not included.

This is a faithful fine-art reproduction of the original stone lithograph, colour-matched and printed to archival standards rather than a flat mass-market copy. It preserves the character of the antique poster while arriving crisp, clean and ready to frame - a memorable gift for lovers of vintage advertising, French design, Cappiello and Belle Epoque art, and a lasting way to bring a piece of poster history into a home, studio or workplace.