Gino Boccasile

 

Gino Boccasile, born Luigi Boccasile (Bari, 14 July 1901 - Milan, 10 May 1952), was an Italian illustrator, advertiser and painter.

He graduated from the Bari School of Arts and Crafts. In 1932 he moved to Milan where he collaborated with the advertising studio of Achille Mauzan. A successful illustrator, he proposes an image of a sensual and busty woman, a symbol of female beauty, widely exploited later in the advertising field. During the war he created numerous billboards for fascist propaganda, for the Italian Social Republic and for the Anti-tubercular Campaign. In 1934 he exhibited in Paris at the Salone degli Indipendenti and in 1936 he took part in the I Mostra del Cartellone in Rome.

Gino Boccasile, who passed away at the age of only 51, was one of the most popular and highly regarded Italian poster designers. He achieved notoriety by drawing provocative women for the covers of the magazine «Le grandi firme» published in the 1930s by Pitigrilli. He began designing posters in 1930 ("Torneo tennistico-Sanremo" and "Caffè Moretto"), but his best-known posters are those made for the Italian Social Republic and those from the first post-war period (e.g. "Sestriere" and various subjects for Yomo , RAS, Formaggino Mio and Paglieri).