Cornetto | 1932

Cornetto, 1932, by Hugo Laubi

This striking Art Deco poster features a minimalist profile of a man with brown skin tones smoking a black pipe, set against a cream background. The composition is dominated by the sleek silhouette of the smoker's face and neck, with only the essential features rendered - the smooth curve of his nose, chin, and ear visible against the stark black of his hair. White smoke billows upward from the black pipe in delicate, undulating wisps, adding a sense of movement to the otherwise static image. The brand name "CORNETTO" appears in bold black capital letters across a gently curved grey band at the bottom of the design. The poster bears the printer's mark "SOLL A.G. ZÜRICH" in the lower right corner, identifying its Swiss origin.

Cornetto was a fine-cut pipe tobacco produced in Switzerland during the interwar period, when pipe smoking remained a common and socially accepted practice among men. The 1930s represented a transitional period in tobacco consumption patterns across Europe, with cigarettes gradually gaining popularity but traditional pipe smoking still maintaining a strong presence, particularly in Switzerland. This advertisement appeared during the Great Depression, a challenging economic period for Swiss tobacco producers who faced stiff competition from French manufacturers. During this era, pipe tobacco brands frequently employed sophisticated advertising to distinguish themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Cornetto positioned itself as a premium product, with the elegant Art Deco styling of this poster appealing to the modern, urbane Swiss gentleman of the early 1930s.

Hugo Laubi (1888-1959) was a prominent Swiss illustrator, painter, and graphic artist born in Zurich. After studying art in Munich and Paris, he worked as a graphic artist in London in 1911 before travelling to the United States in 1920, where he spent time in Philadelphia and New York. Upon returning to Switzerland in 1918, Laubi became the art director at the printing and lithography company Gebrüder Fretz in Zurich, where he designed over sixty posters during his career. His distinctive style combined Art Deco aesthetics with elements from his background in illustration and landscape painting.