Vintage French Modernist Advertising Poster Design Martini and Rossi Cocktail

Title: Vintage French Modernist Advertising Poster Design Martini and Rossi Cocktail
Guy Nicod (French 1923 – 2021)
Gouache on artist paper, unframed
Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (height x width)
Provenance: Artists estate, France
Condition: good overall condition with light edge wear, gentle handling creases to the margins and minor age toning to the paper; colours remain fresh and well preserved

Description:
This original gouache advertising design by Guy Nicod is a vibrant and theatrical composition created for Martini & Rossi, the renowned Italian vermouth brand. Executed in bold planes of colour, the work depicts a lively cocktail party scene with a line of martini glasses extending into the distance, each filled with a golden cocktail garnished with a green olive. The repetition of the glasses creates a rhythmic perspective, leading the eye to a silhouetted crowd of guests, elegantly suggested in black and white outline.
The dramatic setting is enhanced by green stage curtains drawn open to reveal a bright yellow backdrop, framing the social gathering like a performance. At the foreground, a grey-clothed table prominently displays the Martini & Rossi label, painted with precision to anchor the composition. The verso bears Nicod’s handwritten inscription: “Des amis et un ami… le rêve” (Friends and a friend… the dream), underlining the convivial and aspirational spirit that Martini sought to evoke in its mid-century advertising.
Nicod’s style here combines graphic clarity with painterly energy, a hallmark of French commercial art of the 1960s and 70s. His ability to merge functional design with artistic flair places works like this at the intersection of fine art and vintage ephemera.
This piece will appeal to collectors of advertising art, cocktail culture, and modernist design. Striking and sophisticated, it reflects both the glamour of Martini & Rossi’s branding and Nicod’s unique contribution to 20th-century French poster and commercial art.