Le Thermogène

Why it works

A green-clad Pierrot hugs a wad of Thermogène to his chest and breathes a plume of fire, his shadow looming across a dark ground beneath the brand name in tall yellow capitals. Thermogène was a capsicum-laced cotton wadding sold against coughs and rheumatism; Cappiello dramatised its heat instead of describing it, in one absurd, instantly legible figure. His poster publisher, Vercasson, had written to him in November 1907 demanding something with big impact on the wall and, at any cost, nothing banal. The poster is studied as an early case of an image becoming the brand: it reached a 19th edition by 1926, the maker adopted the fire-breathing Pierrot as its logo, still printed on packs after 2000, and the historian William H. Helfand judged it one of the best-known commercial posters of the 20th century. The Wellcome Collection, the Library of Congress and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs all hold copies.