Buvez tous Evian-Cachat c. 1912

This poster by Leonetto Cappiello, probably a lithograph, pops with its high contrast and playful energy. Imagine Cappiello, charcoal in hand, blocking out the dark ground, then layering in that luminous green for the bottle – not a realistic green, but a heightened, almost psychedelic green. I bet he chose a rosy pink to offset the green, like the label on the bottle and the garlands of roses carried by those dancing ladies. They look like they are having fun! I wonder if he started with the figures or the bottle. Maybe he knew that a good poster needs to grab you from a distance. So, he made everything just a little bit bigger, brighter, and more fun than life. It reminds me of Toulouse Lautrec who knew a thing or two about making a poster sing. It's just a fun idea, making something ordinary extraordinary through color, form, and a little bit of imagination. Painting, or in this case lithography, can remind us to see the world with fresh eyes.