The signature style that becomes communication

Elio Carmi

A blank sheet of paper, not even that big, usually 50x70. An intuitive, creative, expressive, pictorial approach. A concept, an idea, a product. The need for a synthesis, to hold everything together and to lend strength, image, impact to that 50x70 sheet of paper. To do so, special skills, as well as graphic, typographic and illustrative culture are necessary, plus a lot of trials and training. In the past, images were first created and then worked on the limestone plate treated with oils and inks. Today, the whole process is faster and more under control. Once they were called affiche. Today they are called posters – although it is not exactly the same thing. The great affichiste (in French), namely poster artists, came from painting. They would draw belle époque posters of Paris, Belgium or London, but also in Italy there was an intense production in Trieste to promote sea cruises, or in Cortina for winter sports. All over Italy, posters were produced to advertise hats, raincoats, and drinks. There was one thing that united everything and everyone who was drawing these images: the need (and desire) to be understood by viewers, the sender had all (due) respect for the receiver. I am writing this thinking of those who today – too often – produce communication products that are incomprehensible, complex, claiming they are based on research: in my opinion, they are only narcissistic and vain. They are disrespectful of those People who are always those with whom we want and have to communicate with, even visually, taking into account their perceptions, interpretations and dialogic skills. Coming back to us, to the idea of the ‘posters’, those by Lele in particular, that were created in his home in Genoa, in theatrical, tourist and industrial environments, a somewhat arbitrary association with another Genoese story comes to my mind.

The extraordinary exhibition of Polish theatre posters at Palazzo Ducale in May 2009. A series of small, medium and large posters produced for the Theatre (with a capital T), for an attentive audience aware of the value of live performances. A world that Lele knew very well, starting from the Yiddish theatre, to the Teatro della Tosse, to the scenography world that gave him great and well-deserved satisfaction.

One of Luzzati's great qualities was his ability to shape his language, his signature style, depending on the set objective and always as a way to communicate with People.

Similarly, he knew how to enter a child's imagination and talk about Pulcinella. He could do just the same for Brecht or Jarry. And always in the best and most accurate way possible. And then, whether it was an animated cartoon, or a movie, or promoting a festival, for him it was always the Theatre of the World.

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