Food and Drink Posters
Woman holds up Champagne glass; red & gold on brown
Leonetto Cappiello, Contratto (Large), 1922
Three men with big noses sniff cheese; green, yellow
Achille Mauzan, Bertozzi Parmigiano - Reggiano (Large), 1930
Still life with Campari bottle and seltzer bottle; black, red, blue, yellow
Marcello Nizzoli, Campari l'Aperitivo (Black), 1926

Food and Drink Posters

Explore our world-leading Food and Drink collection.

 

The new advertising medium of the lithographic poster became one of the most visible symbols of the Belle Époque in Paris and in major cities in Europe and the US. Along with posters of travel, entertainment, fashion and politics, food and drink posters proliferated on city walls, as many of the products became staples for the burgeoning middle class. 

 

Paris alone had nearly 30,000 cafes in 1895, and the whole of France claimed 435,000 - one for every 80 inhabitants! Drinking was a way of life, and by 1890 beer and wine were but two of the most popular. At the same time as spirit makers were evolving into large enterprises, some food categories such as olive oil, chocolate, biscuits, pasta and cheese became commercially significant as well.

 

The new century brought a host of new products and manufacturing sophistication. In 1900, leading product poster artist Leonetto Cappiello would make hundreds of these products well known and unforgettable through humor, bright color and wild metaphors. What better way to promote a "pick me up" drink than to show a playfully devilish statue of a satyr coming to life while drinking it through a straw, as in his Menthe Pastille of 1906. Achille Mauzan, another top artist, created a timeless close-up for Bertozzi Parmigiano in 1924 of 3 elderly Italians crowding around a cheese wheel, savoring its aroma.

 

Streamlined Art Deco images for food and drink products became popular in the late 1920s and 1930s. Marcello Nizzoli in 1926 created two stunning Cubist inspired posters for Campari, the leading Italian aperitif that had commissioned first-rate posters continuously since the 1890s. The era did not abandon the use of humor either - - A.M. Cassandre, the most important poster artist of the era, created perhaps the most famous advertising character for Dubonnet that merged Art Deco style with the Cappiello approach in 1932.

 

The Germans and especially the Swiss pursued the Object Poster, a simple but dramatic style that eliminated most text and focused on the object. The Fifties would witness the rise of the global brand, and the poster adapted to the baby boom economy. The predominant 50s Style was relaxed, playful and youthful. 

 

Food and beverage posters comprise one of the most popular categories of vintage poster collecting, and are perennial favorites in kitchens and dining rooms as well as in bars and restaurants.

 

Leading Artists:

France:  Bellenger, Cappiello, Cassandre, Cheret, d'Ylen, Le Monnier, Robys, Savignac, Steinlen, Sommer, and Villemot

Switzerland:  Baumberger, Birkhauser, Brun, Buhler, and Leupin

Italy:  Codognato, Dudovich, Hohenstein, Hohlwein, Mauzan, Nizzoli, Seneca, and Sepo

 

-> Shop our leading selection of Food and Drink posters.

Large letter B on top of Martini glass; red, white, black
Otto Baumberger, Brak Liqueur, 1937
Goddess floats above fountain holding bottle of water; red, green, blue, yellow
Francesco Nonni, Fonte Meo - Acqua Minerale Naturale, 1910

Food and Drink Posters

Explore our world-leading Food and Drink collection.

 

The new advertising medium of the lithographic poster became one of the most visible symbols of the Belle Époque in Paris and in major cities in Europe and the US. Along with posters of travel, entertainment, fashion and politics, food and drink posters proliferated on city walls, as many of the products became staples for the burgeoning middle class. 

 

Paris alone had nearly 30,000 cafes in 1895, and the whole of France claimed 435,000 - one for every 80 inhabitants! Drinking was a way of life, and by 1890 beer and wine were but two of the most popular. At the same time as spirit makers were evolving into large enterprises, some food categories such as olive oil, chocolate, biscuits, pasta and cheese became commercially significant as well.

 

The new century brought a host of new products and manufacturing sophistication. In 1900, leading product poster artist Leonetto Cappiello would make hundreds of these products well known and unforgettable through humor, bright color and wild metaphors. What better way to promote a "pick me up" drink than to show a playfully devilish statue of a satyr coming to life while drinking it through a straw, as in his Menthe Pastille of 1906. Achille Mauzan, another top artist, created a timeless close-up for Bertozzi Parmigiano in 1924 of 3 elderly Italians crowding around a cheese wheel, savoring its aroma.

 

Streamlined Art Deco images for food and drink products became popular in the late 1920s and 1930s. Marcello Nizzoli in 1926 created two stunning Cubist inspired posters for Campari, the leading Italian aperitif that had commissioned first-rate posters continuously since the 1890s. The era did not abandon the use of humor either - - A.M. Cassandre, the most important poster artist of the era, created perhaps the most famous advertising character for Dubonnet that merged Art Deco style with the Cappiello approach in 1932.

 

The Germans and especially the Swiss pursued the Object Poster, a simple but dramatic style that eliminated most text and focused on the object. The Fifties would witness the rise of the global brand, and the poster adapted to the baby boom economy. The predominant 50s Style was relaxed, playful and youthful. 

 

Food and beverage posters comprise one of the most popular categories of vintage poster collecting, and are perennial favorites in kitchens and dining rooms as well as in bars and restaurants.

 

Leading Artists:

France:  Bellenger, Cappiello, Cassandre, Cheret, d'Ylen, Le Monnier, Robys, Savignac, Steinlen, Sommer, and Villemot

Switzerland:  Baumberger, Birkhauser, Brun, Buhler, and Leupin

Italy:  Codognato, Dudovich, Hohenstein, Hohlwein, Mauzan, Nizzoli, Seneca, and Sepo

 

-> Shop our leading selection of Food and Drink posters.

*Header image derived from Leonetto Cappiello's 1921 poster, Bitter Campari (jester). 

*Header image derived from Leonetto Cappiello's 1921 poster, Bitter Campari (jester).