Mad Men and Crazy Critters, 1st episode - Italian wildlife

Manuel Orazi, L'Hippodrome, 1905

I am dedicating a series of posts to vintage poster artists, since I enjoy their work and 

am also very fascinated by the various use and abuse of animal testimonials in advertising. 

This first installment features the crème de la crème of Italian commercial artists from 1990

to the early 1930s, from the opulent Art Nouveau elegance of Manuel Orazi to the dynamic

 marketing genius of Leonetto Cappiello (both of whom actually mostly lived and worked in Paris).

 I can't help but notice how, with time, our apparently well domesticated creatures quickly picked up

 human habits. After a civilized start, where they experimented with dressing up and oral hygiene,

 quite predictably they moved on to copying our favorite misbehaviours and addictions, and ended up

 as a pretty deranged assortment of boozing, smoking and womanizing beasts.

I wonder what hard lessons they learned from this experience!

Luigi Caldanzano, Cuisinières, 1907

Luigi Caldanzano, Acquavite Mastino

Anon., Motori Clerici, 1910

Aldo Mazza, Vov Pezziol, 1910

Aldo Mazza, Calzature Nobilitas, 1912

Aleardo Terzi, Dentol, 1914

Aleardo Terzi, Colorificio Italiano, 1921

Franz Laskoff, Birra Milano, 1912

Franz Laskoff, Cordial Campari, 1921

Marcello Dudovich, Rimini, 1922

Carlo Biscaretti, Anisetta Evangelista, 1925

Leonetto Cappiello, Porto Pitters, 1928

Leonetto Cappiello, Florio e Cinzano, 1930

Leonetto Cappiello, Bouillon Kub, 1931

Leonetto Cappiello, Le Nil, 1912