The other day a friend was looking for a poster - something he could put in a home with children. He felt uncomfortable with posters featuring tobacco or alcohol and wondered why L’Affichiste had so many of those - the answer is quite simple:  it was these companies who could afford to hire the best posterists of the day to create the best and most enduring images for their brands. The posters which would make heads turn then, and which still do today. So yes, Cappiello’s famous elephant may be selling Nil cigarettes, and his Green Devil is uncorking absinthe, but they are doing it with a panache and artistry which is unequaled... and which goes beyond the product they are marketing and the period in which they were made. These are classic images, collected and coveted around the world by people who don’t smoke, don’t drink, and who’s children have also grown up to love posters because they see them and know them as unique and timeless art. (So there!!)