The Xopiatti
“Celestino Piatti’s Animal ABC”, 1966
Poster for a brand of French-flavor cigarettes
Graphis Annual 69/70
Ad for Zurich printers specializing in color posters
Graphis Annual 58/59
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Poster for a milk drink
Graphis Annual 63/64
Book cover for the “The High Tide”
Graphis Annual 57/58
“Against coughs, sore throats, hoarseness.” – Poster for a brand of cough drops
Graphis Annual 67/68
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Poster for a Swiss Federal music festival
Graphis Annual 67/68
Poster for an international fair in Lyons, France
Graphis Annual 64/65
Poster for a local daily that is “optimistic like its readers”
Graphis Annual 68/69
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“Beer lends you wings”, Poster for Swiss Association of Beer Brewers
Graphis Annual 64/65
Poster for a Swiss mineral water
Graphis Annual 58/59
[ All images © ]
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“You can draw an owl a thousand times, and never find out its secret.”
A few months ago I chanced upon an estate sale that was solely mid-century children’s books. The collection was vast in number and varied in offerings, including a handful of first editions illustrated by Celestino Piatti (1922–2007). I was surprised to find that I was the only one present to understand the value of the Piatti books. So fellow shoppers, you missed out on some choice work by one of the great illustrators of the 20th century.
Swiss-born, Piatti opened his first studio in 1948. In the early 1960s, he became the designer for paperback publisher Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (DTV) of Munich. In the 30 years he worked with DTV, he was responsible for designing over 6,000 titles. Piatti’s unique style is also revealed in a plentitude of advertising posters, Swiss stamps, packaging and animations as well as sculpture, oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints.
While my collection of Piatti’s work is still lean, I hope one day to find one of his animal-themed posters. He is best known for featuring owls, but each member of his wild kingdom is uncommonly good.
See more >> Celestino Piatti flickr set
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Sandi Vincent grew up in the bay area of California surrounded by mid-century modern architecture and other influences responsible for her affinity for the period and its pop style, including her early exposure to The Monkees, The Avengers and Gerald McBoing-Boing. Sandi now resides in Portland and is a board member of a local nonprofit preservation group, the Mid-Century Modern League. In her day job at a community foundation, she sports the web/social media/print materials coordinator title.
Follow Sandi on Twitter > @SandiV
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW, these are just amazing….what a find.
Lovely collection. May I ask which of his books you found?
Cheers from Switzerland (where Piatti’s work is/was omnipresent).
The two Piatti books I found were English-language editions of the ‘Animal ABC’ and ‘The Golden Apple’. Hoping to add ‘The Happy Owls’ to my collection someday, boy did Piatti love owls.
These are amazing. I love the animal illustrations. So childlike/innocent yet very mature and sophisticated too. Thank you for sharing such fantastic inspiration.
-Madeleine