Anis del Mono Poster – Ramon Casas – Vintage Food&Drink poster

Anis del Mono Poster – Ramon Casas – Vintage Food&Drink poster Vincente Bosch the founder of Anis del Mono. He was also a philanthropist and a prominent member of the Badalona community. He funded various charitable initiatives, including the construction of a hospital and a school, and was actively involved in local politics. In 1897, he came up with a clever marketing strategy. As a lover of the arts, he announced a national poster contest for artists to come up with the best design to advertise his products. The competition received 162 entries, three of which were entered by a thirty-two-year-old artist by the name of Ramon Casas. The competition entries were exhibited in the Sala Parés. Casas’s now iconic Anis Del Mono Poster, titled “La Manola Con una falda de percal planchá” which translates as “The woman in a pressed percale skirt” took first place. Some long format original prints of this poster include the words “Premiado en el Concurso de Carteles de la Casa Vincente Bosch” which transaltes as “Awarded in the Poster Contest of the Casa Vincente Bosch” along the foot of the poster. Some original copies of this poster were produced at a whopping 1.1m x 2.3m in size which would make the woman and monkey lifesize. We can imagine that would have made a dramatic impact on the streets of Spain in the early 1900s. The poster offers a unique, eye-catching and, probably most importantly, memorable image. Its simple composition features a cheeky capuchin monkey standing upright on a tall tripod stool. With a bottle of the famous aniseed-flavoured liquor tucked safely under his arm, the monkey appears to relish his role as a bartender. From his elevated position he is carefully pouring a generous measure of Anís del mono into a small glass being held aloft by a flamboyantly dressed Spanish woman. The image has led to the poster also being known as “The Monkey and La Manola”. Manolas flourished from the late 18th to early 19th century. They were men and women from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate exaggerated traditional Spanish outfits and sense of style in dress and manners. They were the Spanish equivalent of the Beau Brummels in England or the dandy in France and America. They often displayed a carefree, cheeky, and saucy persona and were one of the favourite subjects of some 19th-century Spanish painters. The images of majos and majas have become so familiar, most Europeans considered the outfits to be the nation’s traditional Spanish dress. In the Anis del Mono Poster, Ramon Casas’s dark-haired señorita is standing with her back to the viewer, which allows us to admire her outfit. She is wearing a long, red pressed percale skirt which is adorned with a green diamond pattern. Her outfit is accompanied by an elegant woven mantón de manila covering her shoulders. The tasselled pink Manila shawl is elaborately embroidered with a white arabesque and floral pattern along with the name of the beverage Anis del Mono along the edges. Her outfit is completed with a pair of black alpargatas, or heeled shoes, and is topped off with a beautiful clavel rojo, red flower in her hair. The image is set against a vibrant green background that alludes to absinthe, a similar French-produced aniseed liquor. It provides a strong contrast to the bold white text at the top of the poster that simply reads Anis Del Mono. The poster employs bold, simplified forms, and rich, vivid colors that epitomise the Catalan modernist art style that Ramon Casas was renowned for. L’Anís del Mono The history of Anis del Mono begins in 1868 when two enterprising brothers, Vicenç and Josep Bosch established their own distillery in Badalona, a coastal town near Barcelona. It marked the start of Anis del Mono’s rich heritage. Initially producing anise-flavoured beverages, the brothers’ most popular concoction was the “Anisado Refinado Vicente Bosch,” an exquisite sweet and aromatic liqueur that was traditionally drunk after dinner. To the Badalona locals, the liquor became affectionately nown as  “Anís del Mono” or “The Monkey’s Anisette”. The nickname was awarded because of a pet capuchin monkey, gifted to Vicente, who resided in the Bosch distillery. The monkey moniker stuck and was soon appearing on bottle labels, newspaper and magazine adverts and promotional posters. Towards the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, product branding began to become important. It helped distinguish between competitor brands and helped cut down on scrupulous merchants who would counterfeit successful products. To distinguish their product Anis Del Mono was marketed in an elegant glass bottle made with a diamond cut patterning on it. The idea came from a perfume bottle Bosch had bought in Paris for his wife. The bottle was adorned with a label that was also designed by Ramon Casas. The iconic Anis del Mono label features a monkey dressed in a suit, holding a bottle of the liqueur in one hand and a sceptre in the other. The monkey’s face is believed to be based on that of Charles Darwin, mocking the man for the evolutionary theories about man deriving from apes espoused in his book The Origin of the Species. Another quirk of the bottle’s famous design is the spelling error in the word ‘distillation’ which the company proudly continue to this day. It has to be the longest-running spelling mistake in a brand ever! Vincente Bosch continued to be a pioneering advocate for the use of advertising posters in the promotion of his products. The drink’s exceptional taste, unique bottle design with its famous label and posters such as this one created by Ramon Casas, Anis del Mono became one of the most successful liquor brands in Spain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was often associated with the bohemian lifestyle of artists and intellectuals. The alcoholic aniseed drink quickly gained popularity in Spain and abroad. Anis del Mono has remained a beloved and enduring brand over 150 years later, with its rich history and captivating image continuing to captivate spirits enthusiasts worldwide. Today, the famous aniseed liquor is still produced using traditional hand-crafted procedures. The factory in Badalona snow belongs to the Osborne Group. It produces more than 4 million of litres of Anis del Mono each year. Ramon Casas – the artist behind the L’Anís del Mono Poster Ramon Casas i Carbó was a prominent Catalan painter and illustrator born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1866. He is considered one of the most important artists of Catalonia and a key figure in the modernist art movement. Casas began his artistic training in his youth, studying at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona. He also travelled to Paris, where he was influenced by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements. Upon his return to Barcelona, he became a central figure in the city’s cultural scene, participating in exhibitions and working as an illustrator for various publications. In the early 1890s, Casas and a group of like-minded artists and intellectuals founded the influential art collective known as Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats), which became a hub of artistic and cultural activity in Barcelona. Casas’s work from this period reflects the influence of the Symbolist movement, as well as his interest in the lifestyle of the bohemian artists and intellectuals of the time. Throughout his career, Casas produced a wide range of works, including portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. He was known for his ability to capture the essence of his subjects, whether they were anonymous figures from everyday life or famous personalities from the world of art and culture. In 1897 Casas began to regularly produce posters gaining an enviable reputation for his work in advertising contests in Barcelona, and health awareness posters. He created promotional posters for motor racing events such as the Real-Automotiv Club de Cataluna and commercial posters for companies such as Champagne Codorniu, Vino Rioja and Anis Del Mono and his own publication Pel & Ploma. Casas continued to work and exhibit his art until his death in 1932, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most important artists of the Catalan modernist movement. Today, his work can be seen in museums and galleries throughout Spain, as well as in private collections around the world.