Surprise.

That was and is the best way to

get a passerby's attention. Surprise

them with something they don't expect to

see and that image is almost assured of sticking

with them. That was Cappiello's philosophy

and that practice is seen in the 534 full-color and

fully-annotated posters illustrated herein.

Willing to indulge every inspiration and exploit

any fancy that helped to advance his artistic cause,

Cappiello often used unusual colors - strong, vivid,

sometimes seemingly dissonant. He would call upon

a conspicuous menagerie - animals both real and

imagined - to serve his purpose. He was willing to

conjure forth fantastic visions, ranging from fairies

to devils, derived from fables, mythology or simply

his own flights of fancy. Briefly stated, Cappiello

is the Father of the Modern Poster, and it

was from his fertile imagination that the

precepts of contemporary advertising

were born. This exhaustive volume

proves that notion page after

lavish page.