Fortune magazine’s rich design history

J.J. Sedelmaier writes for Print about Fortune magazine’s design history.

Sedelmaier writes, “Although it was conceived and prepared while financial times appeared stable, Fortune Magazine was first published soon after the market crash in 1929 by Time Magazine co-founder Henry Luce. Its cover price was set at $1 — the equivalent of more than $15 today. Luce made a conscious effort to make the magazine as majestic and beautiful as he felt possible. Illustrators, designers, and fine artists all contributed to Fortune‘s covers and editorial illustrations, and it also dovetailed the early use of photography — especially color photography. Margaret Bourke-White was an early contributor and Walker Evans was its photo editor from 1945–65. Much of what we take for granted in present day business and corporate news reporting was pioneered in Fortune Magazine. The detailed behind-the-scenes dealings of what went on in the business world were usually not made public up to this point, and although this was clearly a case of preaching to the choir, you’ll be hard pressed to find a periodical of the time that presented the equivalent coverage of corporate goings on.

“Everything in the magazine was served to its loyal subscription base (newsstand sales were considered a bonus) like a sumptuous meal. Start with a beautifully designed cover. Add in a short section of classy advertising. Feed on a main course of multiple feature stories (interestingly unrelated to the subject on the cover). Then, finish with another final passage of advertising. This was Fortune Magazine for at least its first 10-15 years.

“In 1999, ‘Fortune: The Art Of Covering Business’ was released by Gibbs Publishing. It chronicles the covers of Fortune Magazine from its inception to 1950. It’s a nice addition to any library stocked with titles concerning graphics and publication design, but it lists ‘Unknown Artist’ for several of the covers even though in some cases the artists’ initials are clearly evident on the artwork. With a bit of sleuthing, I was able to discover that the ‘Unknown Artist’ with the ‘EAW’ initials on the lower right of the April and July 1930 covers is Edward A. Wilson. My thanks goes to both Steven Heller and Roger Reed for helping me determine this information. (As of right now, only the March 1930 issue and the color aerial picture of NYC on the July 1939 cover continue remain uncredited with the ‘Unknown Artist’ moniker.) The other important item missing from the Gibbs book is at least a mention of the pre-production prototype issue produced in September 1929 and labeled as Volume 1 Number 0. This dummy issue has rarely been showcased before. Other than my prior inclusion of it as an example of Stark Davis’ work in my feature on ‘Ravinia Festival Program Covers,’ the only other time I’ve seen a mention of the prototype is in 2010 when the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill announced it had acquired a copy.”