Italian, 1870–1943
Aleardo Terzi (1870–1943) was an Italian illustrator, poster designer and painter, one of the leading figures of Liberty (Art Nouveau) graphic art in Italy. Born in Palermo, the son of the painter and illustrator Andrea Terzi, he trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and worked for the magazine La Tribuna Illustrata, where he met Giovanni Mataloni, who in 1898 introduced him to Casa Ricordi in Milan.
At Ricordi, working alongside Adolfo Hohenstein, Marcello Dudovich, Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Leonetto Cappiello, he became an accomplished poster designer, and he also contributed to the supplements of the Corriere della Sera. In 1904 he became artistic director of the Roman publisher Danesi and of the annual Novissima. From 1906 he illustrated children's books for the Florentine publisher Bemporad, including Italian editions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and Gulliver's Travels, and drew for the Corriere dei Piccoli. After 1910 he designed decorations for the Richard-Ginori porcelain works and theatre costumes, created a well-known poster for Dentol toothpaste, and in 1921 designed the logo of the Milan varnish company Max Meyer.
From 1923 to 1930 he directed the Scuola del Libro in Urbino. In the early 1930s he returned to Milan to work in advertising, and in his last years he retired to Castelletto sopra Ticino to paint; he died there in 1943. Much of his work was lost when Ricordi cleared its warehouses in the 1960s.
1 artwork
