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ABOUT

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre

His real name is Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, and he was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1901. He committed suicide in Paris in 1968, after the rejection of one of his innovative designs by a German publisher. After studies at the Ecoles des Beaux Arts in Paris, Cassandre adopted France as his country. He produced his first poster Au Bucheron at 22, and became a successful and influential poster artist best known for his epoch-defining travel posters and for his advertisements for products such as Dubonnet. The consummate art deco artist, he tried to create posters for people who did not try to see them. In 1936 he traveled to America to work on several projects. While there he designed several surrealistic covers for Alexey Brodovitch at Harper's Bazaar. In addition, he created for NW Ayers, the classic eye of the Ford billboard and several pieces for the Container Corporation of America. His career as a poster designer ended in 1939 when he changed disciplines and became a stage, set and theatrical designer. Most of Cassandre's work was done at Fonderie Deberny&Peignot. The 1960s work was at Olivetti.

He created these typefaces:

• Bifur (1928-1929). See the digital form by Richard Kegler (P22, 2004).
• Acier Noir (1930-1936). His poster Nord Express (1927) (Acier Noir really) inspired Nick Curtis to draw Nord Express NF (2003). In 2010, and then again in 2019, Jean-Baptiste Levée designed Acier (Noir and Gris) as a revival of Acier. Other revivals include HFF Black Steel and Ferrus (2010, Gert Wiescher).
• Peignot (1933-1937, designed with Charles Peignot for Deberny & Peignot). Typefaces like this are called Peignotian on my site; some are calling them modulated sans typefaces. Buy a digital version from Linotype. See this poster by Matt Blaisdell, this poster by Julieta Liberson, and this poster by Guillaume Bret. Noteworthy digital revivals include the rounded multi-style family Pinot Grigio Modern (2014, Alan Meeks) and Greyhound (2012, SoftMaker).
• Touraine (1947). Done with Charles Peignot, it is based on a design of Guillermo Mendoza. This Peignotian typeface was revived ca. 2014 by Clément Bonnetin.
• Cassandre (1968). Cassandre (1968) was largely unfinished, after having been turned down by Berthold and Olivetti (and was possibly the cause of his suicide). It was finished in a revival of sorts by Thierry Puyfoulhoux (2003).
• Graphica81 (1960).
• Cassandre Initials (1927). This artsy typeface was digitized by Gerd Wiescher at Elsner&Flake.

Books: A.M. Cassandre, "L'architecture, l'art que je préfère à tous les autres." (2008) is a small PDF file/essay by Estienne student Antoine Stevenot. In 1988, Letraset published Baseline 10 The Cassandre issue, a fifty-page magazine volume edited by Mike Daines and art directed by Newell and Sorrell.

References:

• Blaie Cendrars: Le spectacle est dans la rue, Montrouge, Draegr Frères, 1935. Has Cassandre's posters.
• Paul van Capelleveen, Sophie Ham, Jordy Joubij: Voix et visions. La Collection Koopman et l'Art du Livre français, Zwolle, Waanders, 2009.
• Peter van Dam, Philip van Praag: A.M. Cassandre en zijn Nederlandse opdrachtgevers 1927-1931: Catalogue raisonné. Abcoude, Uitgeverij Uniepers, 1999.
• Henri Mouron: Cassandre, London, Thames and Hudson, 1985.
• Maximilien Vox: A.M. Cassandre, peintre d'affiches, St-Gall, Zollikofer, 1948.
• N.R.A. Vroom: A.M. Cassandre, Amsterdam, Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten, 1967.

Klingspor link. FontShop link. Home page. Wikipedia link.

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