The woman is climbing out of a tin of tomatoes. Leonetto Cappiello (1875 to 1942) designed this lithograph for the Italian canning company Cirio in the early 1920s, when he was working for the Paris publisher Devambez. Francesco Cirio founded the company in Turin in 1856, and its tinned fruit and vegetables were sold at home and abroad. The English-language text on this version shows it was made for export markets.
The V&A holds a copy dated 1923 (accession E.86-1973).
On the poster
A woman in a red-and-white candy-stripe skirt rises from an open tin of Cirio Peeled Tomatoes, holding up branches of plum tomatoes and green foliage against a deep, flat navy blue ground. A golden-ochre sash billows behind her. "Ask for CIRIO TOMATOES" runs across the top in bold white capitals, with "Finest Quality" and "Best Value" in the lower corners.
About this print
A digitally restored reproduction, printed on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art paper with pigment inks.

