Posters, Passions and feelings. Sixty years of advertising and propaganda in the Dino Villani – Teche, RAI collection of posters.

08 march 2007 - 29 april 2007

Curated by Cristiano Buffa 

Before the advent of television, advertising messages, or propaganda, as it was often called, was most visible in posters, put up in designated spots along streets and then reprinted in the pages of newspapers and magazines.

The heart of this form of communication was the “image,” a vignette, character, or product that was meant to “provoke” passing readers and stimulate their interest. This centrality of the image had been immediately grasped by an inquisitive French social critic, Ernest Maindron, who in 1895 wrote, in one of the first publications on posters, Les affiches illustrées 1866 – 1895: “at the beginning of the year 1886 I said, and I was a prophet with little to spend, that advertising through images would become a force on which one could count.”

The study and creation of this “image” involved poster designers, a category of visual artist of uncertain classification, and those new professionals who were working in companies engaged in marketing.

This exhibition begins with a group of posters, now the property at the Department of Advertising and Communication of the Castello di Rivoli, which Dino Villani, who belonged to this new category of professionals, had collected during his career and then donated to RAI – Sipra. Dino Villani occupied a specific position among his peers. Born in Nogara in 1898, he entered the advertising world in Milan in the 1930s and spearheaded some of the most significant campaigns in the 1940s and became the guiding force behind the Federazione Italiana Pubblicitari, serving as its president until the 1970s.

The main portion of the exhibition is taken up by a survey of approximately 130 posters that, in the space of five rooms, reveal certain significant themes in Italian advertising posters prior to the advent of television: the invention of free time, regime propaganda, political passions, and the definitive triumph of mass consumption. 

This sequence of images, however, has a particular character, since they do not outline a “historical” path so much aspresent an interpretation from “the inside,” as seen through the eyes of one of the leading figures in advertising. The authors of the exhibited works, such as Sepo, Marcello Dudovich, Gino Boccasile, Erberto Carboni, Nico Edel, Gian Rossetti, and Armando Testa, are creative artists with whom Villani established frequent and friendly professional relationships.

Arranged chronologically and in thematic groupings that reflect Villani’s professional interests, these works tell us about the institutions, businesses, and products that, through the “images” developed by artists, are meant to arouse positive feelings in the viewer, or even, in the case of political messages, passions and viewpoints.

Posters from the early 20th century: the territory of the brand

During the first two decades of the 20th century, the poster expressed brand value through the reconstruction of a setting or a territory of symbolic values, to which the poster artist contributed his style. The themes are circumscribed: newspapers and magazines, alcoholic beverages, clothing and fashion, means of transport, events, and tourist destinations.

The artists in the exhibition include representatives of French poster art, such as Jules Chéret, and Italian artists from the school of the Officine Grafiche Ricordi. Leonetto Cappiello, who Villani identified as the initiator of the “modern poster,” is an important presence.

Advertising between the two wars

The early period between the two wars was marked by Cappiello’s expressive revolution and developed through the establishment of consolidated communications structures in Italy.

The first poster and advertising agencies were founded, and magazines dedicated to advertising began to be published, including L’ufficio moderno, where Villani became editor in 1930. In 1933 the First International Congress of Advertising was promoted. Examples of American advertising arrived in Italy and the first “slogans” began to be developed, to capture the attention of consumers.

 Of the artists working during this period, particular focus is given to Severo Pozzati (Sepo), author of the Motta poster and someone Villani considered a “revolutionary” who was unfairly neglected.

Social and political communications in the 1940s and 1950s

The Fascist dictatorship made broad use of images and slogans, to organize consensus regarding political choices: land reclamation, the war in Africa, autocratic “inventions” in economic matters. During the war effort the poster expressed the regime’s values, in simplified and brutal fashion, through the polarization of positions and the demonization of the enemy.

Postwar political posters (the early political elections of 1948 and 1953) confirmed the existence of violently opposing values and passions. Caricature and irony are often employed to debase the adversary with facile stereotypes.

The communication of mass consumerism in the 1950s and 1960s

With the industrial recovery of the postwar period, Italy experienced years of economic boom, and the advertising poster, through the seduction of the product, increasing expressed the values of a consumer society.

 New products, previously unknown, appears, such as sun creams, detergents in powder form, tins of preserved meat, ready-to-wear clothing, typewriters, and televisions.

Visual language became simplified, the product became more obvious, and the poster often took a photographic approach. The text became a characteristic element, existing in dialogue with the image.

Among the artists who made their mark during this period (Federico Seneca, Gino Boccasile, Marcello Nizzoli, Ercole Brini, and Erberto Carboni), the most significant figure is Armando Testa, who was responsible for some famous advertising campaigns, such as those for Punt e Mes di Carpano and Simmenthal tinned meat.

Dino Villani and advertising in Italy from 1930 to 1960

The exhibition concludes with a section devoted to some advertising “inventions,” promoted by Dino Villani in the 1930s and 1940s: the Motta campaign for panettone, which henceforth became a sweet symbol of Christmas and of Milan; the campaign for the Easter dove; Valentine’s Day; Mother’s Day; and, finally, the competition that started out as “5000 lire for a smile” and would become “Miss Italy” in the postwar period.

With these initiatives, Dino Villani perfected the concept of communicating through images, and he made clear the circular relationship that can develop between events and communications: the message’s ability to persuade is reinforced when it is spread by a network of social relationships that fuel it with emotions and feelings.

 Cristiano Buffa