Peignot^161
A. M. CassandreOnce upon a time Paul Rand used three
stylish lowercase letters on a poster
promoting winter sports. This solitary word,
ski,was the first time that the typeface
Peignot was used in the United States. It was
1938 and it was the last time Rand would ever
use it, but Peignot became one of the most
popular letterforms of the 1930 s and 1940 s. It
was an emblem of the age, a reflection of the
Parisian modernestyle.
Peignot, designed by poster artist
A. M. Cassandre ( 1901 – 1968 ), still has
currency as a display letter and is sometimes
used to evoke the art deco period of the late
1920 s to mid- 1930 s. Peignot was a quirky
sans-serif face notable for its thick and thin
body and the use of upper-case letters in its
lowercase form. The typeface is famous for
both its style and versatility, and its designer is well known for his
significant contributions to the history of the poster, but little is known
about the man for whom the face was named, Charles Peignot, or his
influential Parisian type foundry, Deberny & Peignot. This is a case where
the typeface is more than a mere letterform, it is a monument.
The history of graphic design usually focuses on the artists who
produced the most visible and viable work, not the so-called vendors.
While Cassandre’s designs are celebrated, the catalyst or patron who
encouraged, published, and paid for the work goes largely unheralded. This
is the fate of Charles Peignot, who at one time employed Cassandre and
other leading European designers including Herbert Matter, Alexey
Brodovitch, and Charles Loupot. Peignot was to modern graphic design
what Ambroise Vollard was to modern printmaking. He was not simply the
manager of a successful type business, he was the embodiment of French
typography for more than five decades. An arbiter of taste, a courageous
experimenter, an adventuresome publisher, Peignot brought what one of his
collaborators, the type designer Maximillen Vox, calls a “Gallic-Roman”
design attitude (rooted in constant change) to the Anglo-Saxon world.