Marcello Dudovich (Trieste, 21 March 1878 – Milan, 31 March 1962) was an Italian painter, illustrator, and poster designer. Together with Leonetto Cappiello, Adolfo Hohenstein, Giovanni Maria Mataloni and Leopoldo Metlicovitz he is considered one of the progenitors of Italian poster design.
Biography
He relocated from Trieste to Milan in 1897 after attending a professional art school. He was recruited as a lithographer by Ricordi, a music publisher, thanks to his father’s friendship with the illustrator and cartoonist Leopoldo Metlicovitz, and was given charge over advertisement design.
In 1899 he transferred to Bologna, working here for the publisher Edmondo Chappuis, designing billboards, book covers and illustrations for publications such as Italia Ride in 1900 e Fantasio in 1902. Here he met Elisa Bucchi, his future wife.In 1900 he won the "Gold Medal" at the Paris World Fair.
In 1905 Duduvich returned to Milan to rejoin Ricordi. Here, in the next few years, he designed some of his well known posters including "Mele di Napoli" (Apples from Naples) and "Borsalino".
In the 1920s he made several posters for the Milan department store, La Rinascente, and in 1922 he was appointed Artistic Director of "Igap".In 1930 he designed a prominent poster for Pirelli. After the Second World War he moved away from the world of commercial art, concentrating instead on his painting. Marcello Dudovich died in Milan from a cerebral hemorrhage on 31 March 1962.
Dudivich is celebrated as one of Italy’s greatest poster artists. He was inspired by Edward Penfield, by his friend and teacher Adolfo Hohenstein and by Alphonse Mucha. But ultimately his reputation comes from his having developed his own very distinctive and richly colored style.
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