s e l e n i P e p i C
1908–1991
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- Sara Giovanitti, School of Visual Arts, NY
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She was a seminal pioneer, she was different.
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Cipe Pineles
Art Director at Seventeen Magazine Revolutionizing Editorial Design
“I was given great scope as an art director to express my own ideas and attitudes, and I worked with people who were very dedicated to the audience they were adressing.”
During the days of the 1940’s when magazine publishing was dominated by males, a new player stepped onto the scene to change the rules of the game. Cipe Pineles, an Austrian born designer, spent her early career under Condé Nast at Vogue and Glamour. Learning editorial design at major fashion publications prepared her for what she would later be best known for. Pineles was named Art Director at Seventeen, which would also give her the title of first female art director of a mass market publication. Taking on a publication such as Seventeen was risky, as it was aimed towards a demographic that was not taken seriously at the time; young women. But Pineles had cutting edge ideas up her sleeve that she felt could transform the vision of the magazine. Pineles had a keen eye for the power of balance between image, text, and white space on the pages of Seventeen. Editorial design of the 1940’s didn’t value simplicity. Readers were bombarded with ads in bright colors, and a lack of photography. Cipe Pineles developed a style that was completely modern, and set her publication apart from the rest.
above left: Womens weekly, January 1944 below: Woman’s Own, October 1949 right: Seventeen, February 1950 below: Seventeen, July 1949
On the left side of the previous page are a cover, and an article from typical womans magazines of the 1940’s. Pineles layout design at Seventeen is clearly distinguishable. The images of the magazine remained primary, and were always supported by captions, or columns of text set in a legible font. The covers of Seventeen showcased a female, and were always themed with the following content. Pineles’ work as art director refashioned editorial design of the 1940’s.
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“ Visual Impact
Educating Readers with Fine Art Pineles along with her editor, Helen Valentine, were on a mission to educate young teenage girls. To distinguish her magazine from the rest of its competitors, Pineles applied the use of illustration and fine arts throughout the pages of Seventeen. Since she was an artist and illustrator herself, Pineles brought a new perspective to the publication. The commercial art was all very similar at the time as commercial artists tried to fit a certain mold. Pineles rejected this notion because it damaged the integrity of both parties. She began commissioning fine artists to illustrate the stories and articles in Seventeen, knowing that this would expand it’s visual
influence. The artist would paint their reacction to an article, but Pineles stated the art had to be good enough for a gallery, or she wouldn’t feature it. The relationship between the artist Pineles hired and the magazine was mutually beneficial, as many of them were unknown and it gave the artists a chance to showcase their work to a mass audience.
Above left: Seventeen, January 1949, illustration by Doris Lee Next page: Seventeen, April 1950, illustration by Dong Kingman
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I thought here was an opportunity to give them a new experience in seeing.
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A Personal Touch Pineles as an Illustrator
From the start, Cipe Pineles was more than just the Art Director at Seventeen. Aside from designing the spreads, covers, and layouts of each issue, Pineles provided her own illustrations to the publication. Adding her own personality to Seveteen made it that much more innovative and relatable. Pineles most famous illustration, pictured in the previous spread, was for the food section of the magazine, and was intended to talk about the different uses for potatoes. This prosposed a challenge, as potatoes were considered and ugly subject. Pineles was tired of food photography, and wanted to bring a fresh perspective to
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the article. Pineles painted the potatoes on a whim, but the illustration ended up winning her a gold medal from the Art Directors Club in 1948. Aside from food, Pineles painted illustrations of kitchen items such as linens and containers for the home sections of Seventeen. Pineles had an affinity for painting objects and still lifes, but she is also credited with a few of the fashion illustrations during her time at Seventeen.
Pictured above are fashion illustrations by Pineles for the April 1948 issue of Seventeen. To the right, Pineles sits at her workspace arranging images for a magazine spread.
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Colophon:
Bibliography:
Copyright © 2014 Chloe White, Portland, Maine, Maine College of Art , GD 102: Typography
Scotford, Martha . “Cipe Pineles.” AIGA. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.aiga.org/ medalist-cipepineles/>.
Designed and written by Chloe White Composed in Bodoni SvtyTwo ITC TT
Scotford, Martha, and Cipe Pineles Golden. Cipe Pineles: a life of design. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.