
CIPE PINELES (MY IDOL)

As a young woman she worked under Dr. Agha at Vogue but later became "The first autonomous woman art director of a mass-market American publication Seventeen. This magazine was Important because she brought fine art and modern art to the attention of the young mainstream public, it also allowed fine artists access to the commercial world. Some young artists "discovered" by the magazine became well known: Richard Anuskiewicz and Seymour Chwast. Being an artist and illustrator herself, Pineles was the perfect art director. An example of Pinles’s work was her cover for Vogue. Here she dramatically cropped the photo making it off center to the right and tilted it clockwise about 20 degrees so that the upper left corner points to the title Vogue. She used just the right amount of graphics making her fit perfectly in the Art Deco movement. This was so impressive and edgy, I absolutely adore it. She is my idol. But she takes it one step by artistically writing Vogue in free hand script . MEHEMED AGHA
In 1929 Condé Nast brought Mehemed Agha, who had been working for the German edition of Vanity Fair magazine (another one of my favorite). This man was another genius because he introduced sans-serif typefaces, the practice of bleeding photos off the page, and the use of black-and-white photography which was a big deal in 1932. But more importantly he was the first advertising mind to view publications and that was a series of spreads, or in today’s advertising world we call it a double page spreads. Agha would often plan out the design of editorial content before any photographs were taken. He was an avid photographer and usually brought his own images for his publications. But what I admire about him is how he brought a multitude of dimensions to his art. Another factor I really enjoy about his work is his typography layout. By using black and white fonts he made his letters pop causing a dramatic effect to the page. This created an incredible and much higher level of sophistication that Vanity Fair always stands by. He was very avant-garde.ALEXEY BRODOVITCH

Alexey Brodovitch was a European immigrant who made blazed a hot trail of what art direction should look like. He is well known for his works for the infamous magazine Harper’s BAAZAR (eeeek! That’s sooo cool) in the 1930’s. I adore his layouts and what they actually do to the spread. Brodovitch had a gift for taking an image and build an entire spread around the shot. For example in his March 15, 1938 spread he repeats the stylish curve of the model’s left hip. He applies the same technique to the text and that’s what makes him a genius! He also decided to use bold lettering at the beginning of each line to show emphasis. By choosing the typeface Bodoni (a font that is used a lot for Harper’s BAAZAR) he was trying to harness its boldness and destroying the harmonious balance that’s most layouts always have. Overall it’s so beautiful and sexy! But he pushed the envelope even further by blending his photo across the gutter. In the 1930’s this caused such a sensation that the fashion magazine industry had to pick up their dropped jaws. By using his bold, groundbreaking techniques it’s no wonder why Alexey and The Art Deco Style go hand in hand.



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