Peignot typography exhibition poster documentation for web portfolio description. http://cielazure.org/portfolio/peginot.html

1. [4.A] The poster works of A.M.Cassandre
[4.C] The specification sheet of the typeface 'Peignot'.
There were several well-known types
designed in 1930s, such as Times New
Roman and Bell Gothic, but I choose a
special type names Peignot designed by the
French graphic designer A.M. Cassandre.
Cassandre is notable by his Art Deco style
which presents an ideal image of modern
life. Especially, his poster work for Cle.
Gle. Transatlantique [4.A] is a icon of Art
Deco design. So I decided to feature the
ocean liner in this poster into my work,
by re-creating an illustration based on
the shape.
Age: 1930-1940
Designer: A.M. Cassandre
Typeface: Peignot

2. a. Type designer
b. Designer / Studio / Movement
c. Design work
Provide focussed information about one of these aspects.
Use this column for text/copy and images relating to the topic.
Typeface / Family
Provide information about the typeface design and an image of it in
use and/or the character set, and other images as appropriate.
Typesetting / Type technology
Provide information about the development/invention/introduction
of materials/processes or technologies related to type design and/or
typesetting on a commercial/industrial level.
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kboard. Information hierarchy position (number 1—3)
Type Designer:
A.M. Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-
Marie Mouron (24 January 1901 – 17 June 1968)
was a Ukrainian-French painter, commercial
poster artist, and typeface designer. He is
notable by his Art Deco style poster design
which shows innovative graphic solutions.
Cassandre designed a number of display
typefaces throghout his career in collaboration
with French foundry Deberny & Peignot, such
as Bifur in 1929 and Acier Noir in 1935, which
are icons of the stylised reductive geometric
abstraction of Art Deco design. In 1937,
Cassandre had his greatest success as a type
designer of the all-purpose face Peignot, which
was proved to be a major contribution to moden
typgraphy. Cassandre had received belated
recognition as one of Frence’s most important
artists while he had his poster exhibiton in Paris
in 1966, when was the beginning of the Art Deco
revival.
Design Movement:
1930s is the age of Art Deco, the art
movement originated from France flourishing
internationally, and the age of Modernism
departed from Germany to the USA and then
worldwide , which is a watershed in the history
graphic design. The function of the design was
supposed to be essential in this age. The universal
typeface design by Herbert Bayer inflused many
typeface designers such as Eric Gill (designed
Gill Sans and Joanne), Paul Renner (designed
Futura) and Stanley Morison (designed Times
New Roman).
This age was also famous for Surralism by the
success of Catalàn painter Salvador Dalí, who
also makes design craftworks which influence the
works of French poster artist A. M. Cassandre.
Design Work:
Cassandre is famous by his posters which
approach embraced all styles, in the aura of
surrealism, constructivism, suprematism, cubism
and romanticism—the gamut of
artistic pluralism.
His works usually feature a intense
and metaphorical visual impression,
which make people feel ‘exciting’. It
may be one of reasons of his poster
for travel agency advertisement got
the most popularity.
Peignot, designed by A. M. Cassandre for the commisson by the
French foundry Deberny & Peignot, is innovative for not having a
traditional lowercase, but an original ‘multi-case’ from combining
traditional lowercase and small capital characters, which makes it
become a remarkable sans-serif typeface in modern graphic design, by
its beauty to read, legibility and sort of dignified elegance. However,
despite its resurgence, it has remained a display type in posters,
packaging, brochures, and television graphics (such as The Mary Tyler
Moore Show, an American TV sitcom aired in 1970s). The typeface
felt into decline after the growth of the International Typographic
Style in the 1950s, which favoured less decorative, more objective
typefaces. In conclusion, Peignot, a typeface of marked individuality
and decoration, must be applied cautiously from overusing.
The Teletypesetter (TTS) system, introduced in 1928, extends to
slugcasting machines the principle of separation of function
originally characteristic of the Monotype: it enables Linotype or
Intertype machines to be controlled by a perforated tape produced
on a separate keyboard, even situated in a different city, since
the combination of the perforations on the tape can be sent
telegraphically. Machines casting one-piece fully spaced lines or slugs
are able to produce more than 20,000 characters per hour.
References:
1. Brown, R. K & Reinhold S 1979. The poster art of A. M.
Cassandre, p.5-11. New York, NY, Dutton.
2. Carter, R 2012. Typographic design: form and communication, p.
128. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons.
3. Eskilson, S 2007. Graphic design: a new history, p.169. New
Haven, CT, Yale University Press.
4. Ho, Y. T 2008. Peignot: the revolution of A.M. Cassandre,
Catonsville, MD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
<http://www.dreamscapeportfolio.net/PDFs/monograph2.pdf>
1 2 3
Research &
Summary

3. The concepts feature several compositions in
Cassandre's posters, like ocean liner, french flag colours,
vinyl discs, in order to connect the art deco style of
Cassandre.
1930 - 1940
A.M. Cassandre and
Surralist Typography
Design
A.M. Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron (24 Janu-
ary 1901 – 17 June 1968) was a Ukrainian-French painter, commercial
poster artist, and typeface designer. His posters are memorable for
their innovative graphic solutions and their frequent denotations to
such painters as Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso. He also taught graphic
design at the École des Arts Décoratifs and then at the École d'Art
Graphique. He created typefaces for his poster works, such as Bifur in
1929, the sans serif Acier Noir in 1935, and in 1937 an all-purpose
font called Peignot which may be his the most wide-known typeface
work in following age.
Peginot, designed by A. M. Cassandre for the commisson by the French
foundry Deberny & Peignot, is notable for not having a traditional lower-
case, but in its place a “multi-case” combining traditional lowercase and
small capital characters. It is a visually attractive, constructed sans-serif
display typeface which is completely suitable to modern graphic (especially
poster) design. Use of Peignot declined with the growth of the Internation-
al Typographic Style, which favored less decorative, more objective type-
faces such as Akzidenz-Grotesk (which means
these ‘objective’ typeface can be use in more area). This ‘surralist‘ style
typeface with such a strong characteristc and decoration must be used
cautiously from overusing. Nevertheless, the typeface was famous in the
USA in the 1970s as the typeface used on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and
the second season of That’s My Mama. It was also featured in book cover,
film title and so on in a period.
1930 - 1940
A.M. Cassandre and Surralist Typography Design
A.M. Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-Marie
Mouron (24 January 1901 – 17 June 1968) was a
Ukrainian-French painter, commercial poster artist,
and typeface designer. His posters are memorable
for their innovative graphic solutions and their fre-
quent denotations to such painters as Max Ernst
and Pablo Picasso. He also taught graphic design at
the École des Arts Décoratifs and then at the École
d'Art Graphique. He created typefaces for his poster
works, such as Bifur in 1929, the sans serif Acier
Noir in 1935, and in 1937 an all-purpose font called
Peignot which may be his the most wide-known
typeface work in following age.
Peginot, designed by A. M. Cassandre for the commisson by the French foundry Deberny & Pei-
gnot, is notable for not having a traditional lowercase, but in its place a “multi-case” combining
traditional lowercase and small capital characters. It is a visually attractive, constructed sans-serif
display typeface which is completely suitable to modern graphic (especially poster) design. Use of
Peignot declined with the growth of the International Typographic Style, which favored less deco-
rative, more objective typefaces such as Akzidenz-Grotesk (which means
these ‘objective’ typeface can be use in more area). This ‘surralist‘ style typeface with such a
strong characteristc and decoration must be used cautiously from overusing. Nevertheless, the
typeface was famous in the USA in the 1970s as the typeface used on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
and the second season of That’s My Mama. It was also featured in book cover, film title and so on
in a period.
A.M. Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe
Jean-Marie Mouron (24 January 1901 – 17 June
1968) was a Ukrainian-French painter, commer-
cial poster artist, and typeface designer. His
posters are memorable for their innovative
graphic solutions and their frequent denotations
to such painters as Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso.
He also taught graphic design at the École des
Arts Décoratifs and then at the École d'Art
Graphique. He created typefaces for his poster
works, such as Bifur in 1929, the sans serif Acier
Noir in 1935, and in 1937 an all-purpose font
called Peignot which may be his the most
wide-known typeface work in following age.
Peginot, designed by A. M. Cassandre for
the commisson by the French foundry De-
berny & Peignot, is notable for not having
a traditional lowercase, but in its place a
“multi-case” combining traditional lower-
case and small capital characters. It is a vi-
sually attractive, constructed sans-serif
display typeface which is completely suit-
able to modern graphic (especially poster)
design. Use of Peignot declined with the
growth of the International Typographic
Style, which favored less decorative, more
objective typefaces such as Akzi-
denz-Grotesk (which means
these ‘objective’ typeface can be use in
more area). This ‘surralist‘ style typeface
with such a strong characteristc and deco-
ration must be used cautiously from over-
using. Nevertheless, the typeface was
famous in the USA in the 1970s as the
typeface used on The Mary Tyler Moore
Show and the second season of That’s My
Mama. It was also featured in book cover,
film title and so on in a period.
1930 - 1940
A.M. Cassandre and
Surralist Typography
Design
Early Concepts
[4.A] The poster works of A.M.Cassandre
Sketches

4. Development &
Final Poster
1930-1940
A.M. Cassandre
and Art Deco Typography Design
1930-1940
A.M. Cassandre
and Art Deco Typography Design
The Ocean Liner illustration
on the left is a derivative
graphic creation from
Normandie - C.le G.le
Transatlantique,1935,
Alliance Graphique, Paris.
100x62cm. Collection Susan
J. Pack.
The Designer
The Type Technology
The Typeface ‘Peignot’
Cassandre, pseudonym of Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron
(24 January 1901 – 17 June 1968), was a Ukrainian-
French painter, commercial poster artist, and typeface
designer. He is notable by his Art Deco style poster design
which shows innovative graphic solutions. Cassandre
designed a number of display typefaces throghout his
career in collaboration with French foundry Deberny &
Peignot, such as Bifur in 1929 and Acier Noir in 1935,
which are icons of the stylised reductive geometric
abstraction of Art Deco design. In 1937, Cassandre had his
The Teletypesetter (TTS) system, introduced in 1928,
extends to slugcasting machines the principle of
separation of function originally characteristic of the
Monotype: it enables Linotype or Intertype machines to
be controlled by a perforated tape produced on a separate
keyboard, even situated in a different city, since the
combination of the perforations on the tape can be sent
telegraphically. Machines casting one-piece fully spaced
lines or slugs are able to produce more than 20,000
characters per hour.
Peignot, the typeface designed by A. M. Cassandre for
the commisson of the French foundry Deberny & Peignot,
is innovative for not having a traditional lowercase,
but an original ‘multi-case’ from combining traditional
lowercase and small capital characters. This feature
makes the all-purpose sans-serif typeface remarkable in
the 20th century graphic design, by its beauty to read,
legibility and sort of dignified elegance. However, despite
its resurgence, Peignot has remained a display type in
posters, packaging, brochures, and television graphics
greatest success as a type designer of the all-purpose face
Peignot, which was proved to be a major contribution
to modern typography. In 1966, Cassandre had received
belated recognition as one of France’s most important
artists while he had his poster exhibiton in Paris, since the
Art Deco revival had begun in the meantime.
(such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, an American TV
sitcom aired in 1970s). Its popularity declined with the
growth of the International Typographic Style in the
1950s, which favoured less decorative, more objective
typefaces. In conclusion, Peignot, a typeface of striking
decoration and individuality, must be applied cautiously
from overusing.
References:
1. Brown, R. K & Reinhold S 1979.The poster art of A. M.
Cassandre, p.5-11. Dutton, NewYork, NY.
2. Carter, R 2012.Typographic design: form and
communication, p. 128. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.
3. Eskilson, S 2007. Graphic design: a new history, p.169.
Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
4. Ho,Y. T 2008. Peignot: the revolution of A.M. Cassandre,
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Catonsville,
MD. Retrieved from dreamscapeportfolio.net.
A. M. Cassandre, ca.
1930. Gaston Paris
archive. Retrieved from Flickr.
The DVD cover of
The MaryTyler
Moore Show 6th
Season, which features
Peignot typefaces in the title.
Retrieved from Amazon.com.
Teletype
machine and
operator in
1930s - G. C.
Farmer operating
New PageTeletype
acquired by the
Department for use
between Los Angeles and
OwensValley. Retrieved from
waterandpower.org.