Project research: Cipe Pineles

Cipe Pineles (1908 – 1991) was an Austrian-born graphic designer and art director who made her career in New York at such magazines as Seventeen, Charm, Glamour, House & Garden, Vanity Fair and Vogue. (Bloomsbury, 2017)

Cipe Pineles by Trude Fleischmann

Career.

Cipe Pineles had a nearly 60-year-long career in design.

In 1929, Pineles first position was teaching as an instructor in watercolor paintings at the Newark Public School of Fine and Industrial Art in New Jersey. After her graduation and post Great Depression, Pineles also began work at Green Mansions, an adult resort/summer camp in the Adirondacks. Her work at Green Mansions continued into the 1950s, where she designed the resort's annual brochure, stationery, and mailings for events and special holidays.(Scotford, Martha, 1999)

Vogue magazine cover by Cipe Pineles, 1950

Cipe has gone through many struggles during her working days, like sexism and the Great Depression.


"She started her career at the age of 23 at Contempora after struggling to enter the work force due to sexism in the industry. She worked there from 1931-1933 until Condé Nast’s wife noticed Pineles’ work at Contempora. In 1932 (to 1936) she became an assistant to Dr. M. F. Agha, the art director of Condé Nast Publications. Agha, testing new ideas with photography and layout, allowed Pineles great independence, therefore she designed a considerable number of projects on her own." (Kirkham, Pat, 2000)

Although her road was patchy, she managed to achieve so much more than she expected and take the biggest positions in very big companies, like Glamour, Vogue, Seventeen and many more. One of the biggest achievements for Pineless was The Atlantic Monthly award (About Cipe, 2023), and Herb Lubalin award (Scotford, Martha, About Cipe, 1998).



References:

"About Cipe". Cipe Pineles. Accessed 27 October 2023.

Scotford, Martha (1999). Cipe Pineles: a Life of Design. New York: Norton. pp. 26–27.

Kirkham, Pat (2000). Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000: Diversity and Difference. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 369–370