XANTI SCHAWINSKY (1904-1979). ILLY CAFFE. 1934.
53 1/2x38 inches. Pizzi & Pizio, Milan.
Condition B+: tears and staining in margins; grommits in corners; mounted on thick paper. Matted and Framed.
Xanti studied in Zurich, Cologne, Berlin, with the Bauhaus in Weimar and worked in the Boggieri Studio in Milan for some of Italy's most prestigious advertising clients (such as Motta, Olivetti, Illy and the Italia Cosulich Lines). In 1936 he emmigrated to America, at the behest of Josef Albers, who invited him to teach at Black Mountain College, where Xanti remained for the duration of the war, working with such luminaries as Breuer and Walter Gropius. Like most of the designers of his caliber, he could work with photos, photomontage or pure graphics. For this poster, treated in extremely bright pastel colors, he depicts a bold, post-cubist face of a woman drinking coffee. The impact of the image is due almost entirely to the color scheme, which utilizes two shades of blue and two shades of pink. The unusual colors create an unreal, though memorable, image. Xanti also designed an espresso machine for Illy, although that project was never realized. Schawinsky no. 62, p. 115.

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