Hence, Peignot’s legacy is a virtual timeline of typography, technology, and
modern graphic design.
In the 1920 s the future of an international typography rested in
German experiments. Paul Renner had designed his seminal Futura, the
geometric sans-serif that became the emblem of modernity. Understanding
this, Cassandre and Peignot began investigations that led step by step to
the Peignot typeface (named by Cassandre). The face was the offspring of
two spiritual parents: the Bauhaus and the Renaissance. After many false
births, Cassandre and Peignot concluded that it would be pretentious to
think of creating a completely new face and decided to work along
traditional lines, while at the same time avoiding copies of what had been
done. “Copying the past does not create a tradition,” wrote Peignot.
Cassandre had the idea of going back to the origins of letterforms. “Was
there not something to be learnt from the semi-uncials of the Middle
Ages?” queried Cassandre. “The idea of mixing the letterforms of capitals
and lowercase seemed to us to contain the seed of new developments
within traditional lines.” The result was a mixture of letters, which Peignot
knew would take the public some time to adjust to.
In 1937 Peignot was launched in a spectacular way as the “official”
typeface of the World Exhibition in Paris. It had been chosen by Paul Valéry
for inscriptions on the two towers of the Palais de Chaillot. A fabricator
produced cardboard stencils for making complete alphabets, and these were
used for many mural inscriptions on the exhibition stands. The response to
the type was overwhelming. And like a proud father, Peignot kept tabs on
its use to such an extent that weeks after Paul Rand’s Skiposter was issued,
Rand received a telegram of thanks, signed Charles Peignot.
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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