Leopoldo Metlicovitz (17 July 1868 – 19 October 1944) was anItalianpainter,illustrator andposter designer.
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Together withLeonetto Cappiello,Adolf Hohenstein,Giovanni Maria Mataloni andMarcello Dudovich, he is considered one of the fathers of modern Italianposter art.
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Son of a merchant ofDalmatian origins (the family name was originallyMetlicovich), he began working in the family business at a very young age and at fourteen years old he entered as an apprentice in a printing house inUdine, where he learned the technique oflithography. Here he is noticed byGiulio Ricordi, owner of thehomonymous musical house and of the Officine Grafiche, who invites him to move toMilan to complete his training.[1]
From 1888 to 1892 he collaborated withTensi, a photographic products company, and in 1892 he joinedRicordi as technical director.[2] At first he practiced transposing the works of other famous poster artists such as Hohenstein and Mataloni ontolithographic stone, then his pictorial talent was increasingly appreciated and he began creating posters and illustrations for Ricordi's music editions. Many of the works of the most famous composers of the time are advertised on posters signed by Metlicovitz: from those ofGiacomo Puccini such asTosca (1900),Madama Butterfly (1904) andTurandot (1926) toIris byPietro Mascagni (1898), toConchita byRiccardo Zandonai (1911).[3]At the end of the nineteenth century, theGrandi Magazzini Mele ofNaples entrusted Officine Ricordi with their own advertising campaign for their clothing, one of the first on a large scale, and the artifices of success were the posters created by Metlicovitz together withAleardo Terzi, Dudovich, Cappiello and others.[4]
In 1906, on the occasion of the greatUniversal Exhibition inMilan, Metlicovitz won the competition for the poster that symbolized the fair, dedicated to theSimplon Tunnel, making a name for himself as a poster designer. There are dozens of magazine covers, scores and opera librettos published by Ricordi, which bear his signature including the magazinesMusic and Musicians (1902-1905) andArs et Labor (1906-1912), his work as an illustrator also appears onLa Lettura (1906-1907, 1909) monthly inCorriere della Sera.[5]
Especially from the beginning of the twentieth century, the Officine Grafiche Ricordi began to sell various products that were the fruit of amerchandising ante-litteram, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of Giulio Ricordi, and many of them bore the signature of Leopoldo Metlicovitz, such as theAlmanacco Verdiano of 1902 or the series of illustrated postcards on musical themes, such as those for the operasLa Bohème,Tosca,Madama Butterfly orGermania byAlberto Franchetti.[6]
Between 1907 and 1910 Metlicovitz, on behalf of Ricordi, went twice toBuenos Aires; in the meantime he had marriedElvira Lazzaroni, by whom he had two children: Roberto (1908-?) and Leopolda (1912–2008). In 1914 Metlicovitz is also one of the designers, together withArmando Vassallo,Luigi Caldanzano andAdolfo De Carolis, involved in the launch of the filmCabiria, a colossal of silent screenplay byGabriele D'Annunzio, for which he will create four posters. He also designed the trademark that is still used today byFratelli Branca Distillerie, the producers ofFernet Branca, depicting an eagle with spread wings holding a bottle of the liqueur above a globe.[7]
After ending his collaboration with Casa Ricordi in 1938, he concentrated more and more on painting, preferringlandscapes andportraits and participating in the first editions of theCremona Prize (1939-1940). On 19 October 1944 he died in his house in Ponte Lambro, where he had moved permanently in 1915.[1]
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