Plinio Codognato: A Great Poster Artist for Pirelli Advertising
Plinio Codognato, who was born in Verona on 13 April 1878, created some of the most famous advertising posters of the early twentieth century, for companies in the automotive and cycling sectors, including Atala, Fiat, OM and Pirelli, and many others. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Verona, directed by Mosè Bianchi, he immediately started working on advertising graphics and in 1906 he took part in the 1st Exhibition of Advertising Art at the Sempione International Exhibition in Milan. After initially working in Verona, where he made posters for the Fiera Cavalli and for the opera seasons at the Arena, he moved definitively to Milan in 1918. This marked the beginning of the most fruitful period in his career, and he started working with major industrial brands, and Fiat in particular.
By 1915, Codognato had already made his first poster for Pirelli, and it was highly successful. This is how L’impresa moderna described it in January 1916: “A lovely child on a bicycle, with a smiling face and his legs apart, appeared to come down a slope towards the viewer”. Italy has just entered the war and the child was dressed in the colours of the national flag. The advertisement enjoyed huge success in the following years and appeared in many magazines, including the Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano, which published it on the cover of its April 1917 issue, but also on metal plates, diaries and printed envelope seals.
It is like a snapshot of a child on a bicycle racing downhill, and in 1952 Pirelli’s “Servizio Propaganda” decided to recreate it. They therefore launched a competition among the children of employees, to find a child who would pose for a remake of the advertisement “to repeat, 35 years later, the same colour poster, but with a child of our own day”, reads the announcement in the house organ Fatti e Notizie. Throughout his career, Codognato remained true to his classical style, with mythological figures, centaurs, fauns, and eagles, which he associated with modern products such as cars and bicycles. This can be seen in his posters for Fiat bicycles with Pirelli tyres, preserved by the Salce Collection in Treviso, though he also adopted a more realistic and playful style, which in some cases became satirical and grotesque: one example is another poster for bicycles with Pirelli tyres – a recent acquisition for our Historical Archive – which shows the carnival mask of Meneghino, the symbol of Milan, holding a bicycle. Codugno continued working in the 1930s, creating posters for vehicles with Pirelli tyres, among others, as we see in the poster for the Fiat Balilla, also in Treviso. Codognato died in Milan in 1940. In his art and style, he left the world a timeless artistic legacy.
Plinio Codognato, who was born in Verona on 13 April 1878, created some of the most famous advertising posters of the early twentieth century, for companies in the automotive and cycling sectors, including Atala, Fiat, OM and Pirelli, and many others. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Verona, directed by Mosè Bianchi, he immediately started working on advertising graphics and in 1906 he took part in the 1st Exhibition of Advertising Art at the Sempione International Exhibition in Milan. After initially working in Verona, where he made posters for the Fiera Cavalli and for the opera seasons at the Arena, he moved definitively to Milan in 1918. This marked the beginning of the most fruitful period in his career, and he started working with major industrial brands, and Fiat in particular.
By 1915, Codognato had already made his first poster for Pirelli, and it was highly successful. This is how L’impresa moderna described it in January 1916: “A lovely child on a bicycle, with a smiling face and his legs apart, appeared to come down a slope towards the viewer”. Italy has just entered the war and the child was dressed in the colours of the national flag. The advertisement enjoyed huge success in the following years and appeared in many magazines, including the Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano, which published it on the cover of its April 1917 issue, but also on metal plates, diaries and printed envelope seals.
It is like a snapshot of a child on a bicycle racing downhill, and in 1952 Pirelli’s “Servizio Propaganda” decided to recreate it. They therefore launched a competition among the children of employees, to find a child who would pose for a remake of the advertisement “to repeat, 35 years later, the same colour poster, but with a child of our own day”, reads the announcement in the house organ Fatti e Notizie. Throughout his career, Codognato remained true to his classical style, with mythological figures, centaurs, fauns, and eagles, which he associated with modern products such as cars and bicycles. This can be seen in his posters for Fiat bicycles with Pirelli tyres, preserved by the Salce Collection in Treviso, though he also adopted a more realistic and playful style, which in some cases became satirical and grotesque: one example is another poster for bicycles with Pirelli tyres – a recent acquisition for our Historical Archive – which shows the carnival mask of Meneghino, the symbol of Milan, holding a bicycle. Codugno continued working in the 1930s, creating posters for vehicles with Pirelli tyres, among others, as we see in the poster for the Fiat Balilla, also in Treviso. Codognato died in Milan in 1940. In his art and style, he left the world a timeless artistic legacy.
