Arts et Métiers Graphiques no. 16, March 1930
[Numéro Spécial Consacré a la Photographie]
Charles Peignot [Directeur], Waldemar George [Essayist]
First edition. Quarto. Text in French. Thick printed wrappers. Wire spiral binding. 166 pp. 130 heliogravure plates. Essays. Index. Elaborate—and frankly amazing—period advertisements.Wrappers lightly edgeworn and shelfworn with a chipped spine heel. Textblock very good with a few plates lightly offset due to ink coverages. A very nice, early copy of this influential and easily-abused series. A very good or better copy. Rare thus.
"In the photographic camera we have the most reliable aid to the beginning of objective vision . . . " -- L. Moholy-Nagy
9.75 x 12.25 spiral-bound book with 166 pages and 130 Heliogravure reproductions. Photographie was an annual, special issue of the magazine Arts et Métiers Graphiques entirely dedicated to photography. Published under the direction of Charles Peignot, Arts et Metiers Graphiques was famous for its new photographic vision and has become the "Who's Who"of modern photography. Peignot and his friends Jean Cocteau, Maximilain Vox, A. M. Cassandre, Jean Carlu and Paul Colin formed the Paris-based group Union des Artiste Moderne, a group "strongly against anything backward looking."
Photographie published the work of the leading photographers of the period, as well as the work of successful commercial agencies. Many of the articles are illustrated with documentary photographs and film stills.
Features “Photographie Vision du Monde” by Waldemar George and “Cent trente photographies reunies avec la collaboration de Sougez [one hundred and thirty photographs gathered with the collaboration of Sougez].”
Contains Heliogravure plates by Alban, Laure Albin-Guillot [x 5], R. Barré [x 2], Herbert Bayer [x 3], Aenne Biermann [x 2], Max Buchhartz [x 2], Contremoulin [x 4], Errell, Hans Finsler, Florence Henri, Hoyningen-Huene [x 6], André Kertesz [x 5], Pierre Kéfer, Rudolf Kramer, Germaine Krull [x 2], Le Charles [x 2], Eli Lotar [x 3], Man Ray [x 3], Daniel Masclet, Michaud, László Moholy-Nagy [x 3], Lucia Moholy, Martin Munkasci, Roger Parry [x 6], Henri Ragot [x 2], Albert Renger Patzsch, Marc Réal [x 3], G. W. Ritchey [x 3], Albert Rosenstiehl, Charles Sheeler [x 3], Sougez [x 4], Anton Stankowski, Edward Steichen [x 7], Maurice Tabard [x 8], Paul Unger, A. Vigneau [x 2], Lucien Vogel [x 2], Julius Widmayer [x 2], Willy Zielke [x 2], and René Zuber [x 2].
"Our century will be the age of the photograph." --Waldemar George
In 1925, the critic, poet, and one of the founders of Surrealism, Andre Breton, posed the question: when would 'all the books that are worth anything stop being illustrated with drawings and appear only with photographs?’ A few short years after this statement, the photographic image had established itself as one of the most provocative, poetic, and radical forms of representation in modern society. A plethora of groundbreaking exhibitions, books and publicity, the work of some of the most influential figures in history of photography, ushered in the creative flowering of the medium across Europe. Unquestionably the increasingly effective presence of photography was tied to the emergence of these new recruits and their passionate conviction regarding its creative worth. It was out of this hotbed of revolution in the photographic form, that one of the most influential photographic annuals of the 20th century was published in Paris on the 15 March 1930. Photographie began life as a one off special issue of the graphic arts bimonthly magazine Art et Métiers Graphiques (No 16). [Kerry William Purcell]
Heliogravure is praised by conneiseurs the world over, because of the incomparably rich palette of blacks and shades of gray, the breadth of tonal range, and its exquisite expressiveness. Despite these qualities, Heliogravure has pretty much disappeared over the last fifty years: the costly and time-consuming traditional heliogravure technique has been abandoned in favor of cheaper, faster modern industrial printing methods, such as offset and rotogravure.
In the early part of the 20th century, heliogravure was the method of choice for reproductions appearing in high quality books and artistic photographic reproduction. Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) employed the technique for reproducing the photographs appearing in his celebrated quarterly Camera Work, published from 1903 to 1917. Before World War I, many considered heliogravure as an artistic medium in its own right.
Heliogravure belongs to the same family of intaglio printing techniques as engraving, etching and aquatint. As such, it requires an especially good quality of thick paper, one that can draw out the ink from the furthest recesses of the etched copper. In like manner, the plate embosses the finished prints, for its form is impressed into the dampened paper as they pass together through the rollers. Printed by hand in limited quantities, each heliogravure is considered an original, and its value is accordingly assured.
Arts et Métiers Graphiques (AMG) was a prominent French graphic arts journal that published sixty-eight issues in total, on a bi-monthly basis from September 1927 to May 1939. The magazine reported on diverse themes that impacted the graphic arts, including: the history of printing, typography, advertising design, photography, and technical advances of the time. AMG was conceived by Charles Peignot, head of the French typefoundry, Deberny et Peignot ( the leading company of its kind in France). In AMG, Peignot wanted to cover "all the subjects near or far from printing, of its history, and its diverse contemporary manifestations."
In over ten years of publication, Peignot's wide editorial goal came to encompass subjects ranging from illustration, history of the book, and printing techniques, to the expanding disciplines of advertising design and modern art photography. The magazine also featured regular reviews of fine limited-edition books and reprints of classical literature excerpts in typographically innovative layouts. Each edition was printed on high-quality papers with frequent tip-ins and inserts. Until World War II forced the magazine to cease production, AMG maintained one of the highest standard for graphic arts magazines of its time.
In 1927, Peignot launched the first edition of AMG, a magazine that would become a world forum for trends in the graphic arts. Peignot's goal was to print "the most interesting and luxurious [magazine of art] in the world." He did so by assembling a noteworthy staff that reported on subjects ranging from the history of writing, to photography, to Picasso's latest canvases. The magazine was a fixture of fine printing and journalism for twelve years until the onset World War II disrupted its production.
Approximately 4,000 copies of the magazine were released bimonthly on the fifteenth of the month. This short run enhanced the magazine's status as a collectible item. The magazine was sold mainly through subscriptions, one third of which were foreign from Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and Eastern Europe. Early issues included an insert that summarized articles in English. For binding, the text block was collected as leaves and mechanically bound with wire staples. Printed paper covers were then glued onto the blocks. The attention to detail on all production fronts—design, typography, writing, photography, and printing—was intended to serve the interests of the French intelligentsia who were the connoisseurs of deluxe publications.
The concept of the deluxe publication was critical to AMG's editorial vision because each publication of its caliber it was necessary to collaborate across the lines of the graphic arts. In these books, typography served subject matter, illustration was inspired by theme, and the printing and binding processes contributed to the preciousness of a singular work whose production required a writer, designer, illustrator, typographer, printer, and binder.
Charles Peignot made connections with the key participants in the Deco and Modernist movements around the time of the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. A. M. Cassandre, (nee Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron), won first prize at the Expo for a furniture store's poster design entitled "Au Bûcheron." From this introduction, Peignot commissioned Cassandre to design letters for the foundry.
Following the Art Deco premiere at the 1925 Exposition, Cassandre joined with designer Jean Carlu to form a group of artists whose mission would be to advance Modernist aesthetics in all applications of design and thought. The Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM) was born of this common goal. Charles Peignot, joined the group's membership with the likes of writer Jean Cocteau, Nobel laureate André Gide, architect Le Courbusier, decorator Sonia Delaunay, Maxmilien Vox, and other artists. Peignot later clarified the group's purpose: "Together we tried to break away from the style that survived the first World War. It is not surprising that I tried to accomplish in my field what my friends were doing in theirs."
With a supportive peer group, a willing audience, a rejuvenated economy, and the fine reputation of his firm, Charles Peignot was set to become a leader in his field. The editorial format of AMG changed little through its ten years. The magazine opened with at least two pages of full-page advertisements. Then on a recto page, was the table of contents, along with the imprint, and editorial credits. On the reverse of this leaf was a comprehensive colophon that listed the name of the printer and printing process for each plate in the issue.
The typographic layout of AMG can be considered as the most pervasive theme of the magazine. Like perpetual advertising, each issue was almost entirely hand-set with Deberny et Peignot typefaces that changed with the trends of the time. In 1927, AMG was first set in Naudin, a traditional serif typeface with long ascenders from the Deberny and Peignot catalogue. As the content became more progressive, sans serifs gradually appeared. Also, when Cassandre's Bifur was introduced, it became an instant signature display typeface for advertisements and articles that needed an ultra-modernistic look. In accordance with the 1937 Exposition, which deemed Peignot as the official type-face of the event, AMG was set entirely in the same uncial-inspired face.
Just as the typeface choices were novel, so too were the text layouts that employed those faces. Aligned with the foundry's mission to sell type, the creative design of AMG needed to be at the vanguard in order to serve Peignot's ambition of creating a magazine that aspired to be the reference in the graphic arts. Excellent journalism and design were on par with each other. Evidence of this is shown in the fact that the magazine's colophon was placed at the front of the issue for all to see, instead as an afterthought squeezed into fine print at the end.
Charles Peignot first published AMG in 1927. To do this, he assembled an editorial staff made up of men from his father's generation and peers from his own. In this way, AMG sprung from a perfect balance of time-tested experience and forward-thinking enthusiasm. Each member's expertise served a specific purpose. From the old guard, Peignot collaborated with Henri-Albert Motti, director of Imprimerie de Vaugirard, whose firm printed AMG through its final issue in 1939.
Also, Léon Pichon, an editor, printer, and type designer, and advertising director Walter Maas worked on the director's committee. Lucien Vogel, prolific publisher of three other monthlies, Gazette du Bonton, Jardin des Modes, and Vu, advised on the magazine's audience appeal. Rounding out this group was François Haab, who served as the editor-in-chief. From Peignot's generation was Bertrand Guégan who contributed to nearly every issue, first as the "Book History and Bibliophile" columnist, then as a regular book reviewer.
Although not an official staff-member, Maximilien Vox wrote regularly on typographic design through all ten years of the magazine's publication. With this host of talent, Peignot could realize his "most interesting and luxurious [art magazine] in the world. [photographie_2018]
"Thanks to Amelia Hugill-Fontanel and her Graduate Research at the Rochester Institute of Technology for production of this listing.