Rare pieces return to the market after decades. Among the top lots, works by Dudovich, Cappiello and Metlicovitz

Expectation is growing ahead of what promises to be the most important Italian advertising poster auction - a sector in which Aste Bolaffi was a trailblazer in Italy – of the decade in Europe. The auction is scheduled for April 16th and 17th in Sala Bolaffi in Turin and online at astebolaffi.it.

The vast and varied catalogue includes 630 lots from prestigious private collections who have contributed to the creation of a unique selection. Some of the lots, extremely rare and back on the market after decades, are the works of the most famous Italian and international poster designers of the 20th century: Marcello Dudovich, Leonetto Cappiello, Giovanni Maria Mataloni, Leopoldo Metlicovitz, Gino Boccasile, Ludwig Hohlwein and Émil Cardinaux.

One hundred and seventy posters will go under the hammer during the first session of the auction (lots 1-170), including the top lots of the entire sale and other extremely rare or striking pieces, while the second session (lots 171-630) will consist of numerous examples of contemporary appeal which will also interest those taking their first steps in this promising market.

Among the top lots, there are the works of Marcello Dudovich, including the poster created for Cablé Confort Michelin focussing on one of the themes used for Pirelli and Dunlop: it features the French tyre manufacturer’s famous mascot Bibendum embarking on a journey through Italy sitting on the inside of a tyre (lot 46, estimate 10,000-15,000 Euros), and the poster designed in 1908 for Società Torinese Automobili Elettrici, one of the most sought-after works by the master of which there are just a few known examples belonging to very famous private collections or museums (lot 107, estimate 12,000-16,000 Euros). This poster shows that the topic of electric transportation, very popular today thanks to Elon Musk’s Tesla, actually dates back more than a century.

Together with Leonetto Cappiello and Leopoldo Metlicovitz, Dudovich will also be one of the stars of the section dedicated to fashion, which boasts a wide array of posters for the famous Magazzini Mele department store of Naples, which no longer exists. Numerous well-known and sought-after posters were commissioned in the 19th and 20th centuries by brothers Emiddio and Alfonso Mele, founders of the famous company in 1889.

Other works by Cappiello include his most important 1921 posters for Campari, both for the Bitter and the Cordial products, the two best known beverages produced by the Milanese company. The top lot is a clown dressed in yellow downing Cordial from the bottle, one of the most melancholic works by the master (lot 26, estimate 8000-10,000 Euros).

The auction is enriched with a section dedicated to publishing, including one of the first posters by Giovanni Maria Mataloni for Caffaro, Genoa’s first newspaper (lot 132, estimate 3000-4000  Euros), and the only known work commissioned to Leopoldo Metlicovitz by the Ricordi company of Milano for L’Ora, the Palermo newspaper founded by Ignazio Florio (lot 145, estimate 4000- 6000 Euros).

The catalogue also includes a 1895 poster by Mataloni to advertise an incandescent light bulb, a rare piece highly sought-after for its elegance and refinement as well as for the virtuosity with which the designer incorporates the traits of Art Nouveau, using English and French models to create an image that has become iconic (lot 43, estimate 3000-5000 Euros).
Last but not least there are also posters dedicated to tourism, airlines, railway companies and shipping lines such as the famous Abbazia by Walter Molino (lot 91, estimate 3000-5000 Euros), and one of the two works commissioned to Henry George Gawthorn for Scottish golfing mecca St. Andrews (lot 93, estimate 8000-10,000 Euros).

“These works on paper represent genuine masterpieces of art that originally printed in multiple copies as advertising posters, then evolved naturally over time and very few examples have survived; in fact, often they are rarer than contemporary paintings which due to their intrinsic nature have always been “preserved”. Although since a few decades posters have been of interest to collectors, especially in the English-speaking market, the price-rarity ratio for posters still clearly favours the collector with prices that remain extremely affordable compared to other forms of decorative art. Today there is still an opportunity to purchase important artefacts that are the last graphical witness to key moments of the history of 20th century society”, states Filippo Bolaffi, CEO of Aste Bolaffi.

Poster auction catalogue