Ricordi - Giovanni Gallvrese - Pl. 28

In 1914, Ricordi introduced a commemorative series called Ricordi Portfolio, which includes 70 small lithographic plates of its best designs between 1895 and 1914. This series was put together by Adolfo Hohenstein, and includes artists like Aleardo Villa, Marcello Dudovich, Leopoldo Metlicovitz, and Franz Laskoff. In the lead of Adolfo Hohenstein, this group of artists brought Art Nouveau, known as Stile Liberty in Italy, to a world class level. Much like Maitres de l’Affiche ("Masters of the Posters") curated by Jules Cheret in France, Ricordi Portfolio celebrates the rise of posters in Italy. Many of the images in this series are so rare that they cannot be found in other format.
Founded in 1808, Casa Ricordi is an Italian publisher of primarily classical music and opera. In the 1870s, the publishing company opened an in-house lithography shop to print materials promoting its operas and sheet music business. Quickly, the printmaking shop became a leading lithographer in Italy and by 1895, it started to create posters for outside companies like Campari, the Italian film industry, the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera, and the Mele Department store of Naples. The poster art in Italy was almost single-handedly developed by Ricordi. This poster was designed for an opera called Giovanni Gallurese composed by Italo Montemezzi.

Leopoldo Metlicovitz (1868-1944) is considered one of the precursors of Futurism and one of the fathers of Italian modern poster artists, together with Leonetto Cappiello, Adolf Hohenstein, Giovanni Maria Mataloni, and Marcello Dudovich. At the age of fourteen, he worked at a print shop in Udine, where he learned the technique of lithography. His work caught the eye of Giulio Ricordi, the owner of the Casa Ricordi, who invited him to Milan to work as a lithographer. In 1892, after his time with a photographic company, he returned to Ricordi as the technical director, taking care of the illustrations for calendars, opera librettos and postcards. At the same time, he also explored the theatrical world as a set designer and costume designer at La Scala. In 1906, he won the competition to design a poster for the Milan International World’s Fair. From there, he established himself as a poster designer and started to collaborate with several magazines as an illustrator.

This is an Original Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster is printed on heavy weight paper, and in excellent condition. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our posters.