An insight into the design history of the vintage advertising posters created for Modiano S. D. cigarette papers by Hungarian artist. From the early 20s to the late 30s, a dozen Hungarian designers – among them internationally recognized artists – took their turn and created advertising posters for Modiano. Bortnyik Sándor, Berény Róbert, Victor Vasarely (Vásárhelyi Győző), Irsai István, Kónya Zoltán, Bíró Mihály, Molnár C. Pál., Farkas Endre, Lányi Imre, ifj. Richter Aladár all had their distinct style that resulted in a row of posters telling different stories with different visual language, but with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor, often referencing each other’s ideas in their designs. Some of these posters became design icons – probably the most famous are Bortnyik’s Bauhaus style series and Berény’s Art Deco poster with the smoking man in black hat.
Modiano poster with the smoking full moon by Kónya Zoltán