PUBLICITE 1934
[ARTS ET METIERS GRAPHIQUES]
Charles Peignot [Directeur]
Charles Peignot [Directeur]: PUBLICITE 1934 [ARTS ET METIERS GRAPHIQUES]. Paris: Arts et Metiers Graphiques, 1934. Text in French. Quarto. Double wire parallel binding. Thick printed wrappers. Orange acetate cover sheet. 74 [viii] pp. Multiple paper stocks. Numerous finely printed samples utilizing a variety of printing and finishing techniques bound in. Elaborate graphic design throughout. Three-color cover design by Jean Carlu. Cover and page edges lightly worn. Acetate cover sheet cracked at crown with no loss. Remarkably well-preserved: a nearly fine copy.
9.75 x 12.25 parallel-wire bound special issue of Arts et Metiers Graphiques [number 42, August 1934] devoted to Publicity Design and Reproduction, with special emphasis on promoting the latest work and typefaces from the Deberny et Peignot type foundry. Features a variety of original printed materials [techniques including offset lithography, heliogravure, photogravure, letterpress, etc.] and black and white reproductions of posters, wine lists, menus, brochures, dust jackets, magazine covers, product labels, and advertisments. A breathtaking French Art Deco publication in both form and content.
Color, specialty samples and tipped-in work includes: a full color UNIC poster by A. M. Cassandre; a 2-color plate by Fernand Leger; Deberny et Peignot typo-foto cover by Marcel Jacno; Mourlot Lithograph of L'Antlantic Revue Cover; a 2 -color poster for OTUA; a UNIC 2-color ad by Marcel Chassard; bound In Letterhead for Compagnie Artistique De Publicite; 2 Deberney Et Peignot typographic samples; heliogravures by Dora Maar, Kollar, Pierre Boucher, Emmanuel Sougez, Laure Albin Guillot; a Frigidaire publicity sample; 2 tipped-in color brochures for the French State Railway; and 2 tipped-in color brochures for Scotland and England vacations.
Illustrated essays are "Grandes Fetes De Paris" by Henry Verne: includes posters by Jean Carlu, Paul Colin, A. M. Cassandre, and J. G. Domergue; "Couleur dans Le Monde" by Maurice Raynal; and "Inscriptions Et Belles Lettres" by Maximilien Vox.
Black and white samples include Air France posters by Paul Colin et al.; A. M. Cassandre for Dubonnet; A. M. Cassandre for Le Jour; Peugeot [3 Pages And 13 Images]; Sanka Coffee; Gare Maritime De Cherbourg Poster by A. M. Cassandre; Columbia Records [Sleeves by A. Girard]; French State Railway [5 Images]; N. R. F, Editions From The Nouvelle Revue Francaise; L'Office Central Electrique [4 images, including a Jean Carlu Poster]; Fixor [Photomontages by Laure-Albin-Guillot]; Bourjois Lipstick; Flechet [8 Hat Posters!]; Bas Kayser; Mont Blanc Milk And Flour; Burma; National Museums; Wagons-Lit //Cook: Posters by A. M. Cassandre, Lacroix, Savignac, Mane and a Photomontage by J. M. Schlumber; Thomson Photomontage by Roger Parry; Roquefort Posters by Cassandre And Savignac; Hennessey; Les Grands Moulins De Paris; Rodier; Monsavon; Frigidaire; Tissus Elastiques; Scotland and England Posters by A. M. Cassandre; Goodrich Tires; La Soie Artificielle; Gutermann; Albene; Les Vins Nicolas: Jean Hugo and Paul Iribe; Otua; Au Bon Marche; UNIC Chaussures: designs by A. M. Cassandre; Essolube: posters by Jacques Blein; Aux Trois Quartiers; Oasis Bar full-page poster by G. Annenkoff; Rolleiflex; English Vacations: Maximilien Vox; Various Industrial Catalogs; Fermeture Eclair: poster by Paul Bernard; Aux Galeries Lafayette; Ecole de Publicite de la Grande Chaumiere: 15 student posters with blurb by Fernand Leger; Regie Francaise des Tabacs: Cigarette Packaging, Calendars, Boxes; Cours De Publicite De L'union Centrale Des Arts Decoratif: posters by Magali Lucas, Catherine Meyendorf, and Francoise Neyreneuf.
"Arts et Metiers Graphiques" [AMG] was the legendary French graphic arts journal published by Charles Peignot 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 represented the state-of-the-art in fine publishing in pre-war France; each issue was printed by a wide variety of presses and techniques and collated by Deberny et Peignot. Issues always included tip-ins, lithographs and many other special finishing effects that made them a singular aesthetic experience.
AMG was conceived by Charles Peignot, head of the French typefoundry, Deberny et Peignot in order to cover "all the subjects near or far from printing, of its history, and its diverse contemporary manifestations." Additionally Peignot promoted and highlighted the rapid advances in French printing technologies and aesthetic sensibilities in the annual spiral-bound "Photographie" and "Publicite" AMG special issues.
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 Decoratifs 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 Bucheron." 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 Andre 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.