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Giovanni Maria Mataloni 
( Rome 1869 – 1944)

Historical name of the Italian  Poster Art, Mataloni started in 1891 as a lithographer apprentice at  Officine Grafiche Ricordi in Milan, where he realized, four years later, the famous manifesto for the incandescence-brevet Auer lamp, the first poster that was accepted in Ferdinando Salce’s collection, whose collection of advertising boards  is kept today at the Civic Museum  Luigi Bailo in Treviso. The  sinuous  Liberty style, expressed in his drawings provoked the admiration of the great art scholar Vittorio Pica, one of the first critics who got interested in advertising posters. Mataloni worked also for the editors Chappuis and De Agostini    ( for whom he created the famous brand with the figure of  Atlantis, too).  He illustrated many covers for books and catalogues, while collaborating also to the excellent almanac «Novissima».

(AA.VV., Catalogo Bolaffi del Manifesto Italiano, Giulio Bolaffi Editore, Torino 1995)

( Translation by Irene De Angelis 
Curtis )