6 ms·

Modernist Covers of 1930s Fortune Magazine (2016)

76 points by benbreen 7y ago

IC4RUS 7y ago
Reminds me of these science and tech ads: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/albums/72157612943324998 https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/albums/721576129433... Wish there were more ads like this today - they're much more visually impressive than the ones I see today
- asveikau 7y ago
  I know it's the way they talked and thought back then, but so much emphasis on Men of Science, with emphasis on Manliness in those ads. "Men who think", etc. Pretty jarring for recent times.
  - IC4RUS 7y ago
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/3329503525/in/album-72157612943324998/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/3329503525/in/album... Yeah it's not so subtle in some...
- alkylketone 7y ago
  The massive belief in the curative power of science for all ills is what I find so alluring in the early 20th century posters. They're engaging to me because there's an inherent optimism in many of them!
  - zamfi 7y ago
    There was reason to be optimistic!
deeg 7y ago
"One dollar a copy"...that must have been a lot of money in the depth of the Depression.
- tony 7y ago
  > $1 in 1938 → $18.24 in 2019 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938?amount=1 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938?amount=1 > "Despite the Depression, and a cover price of $1 in an era when the Sunday New York Times cost five cents, Fortune was an immediate success. It debuted in February 1930 with 30,000 subscribers and by 1937 it had a circulation of 460,000, with annual profits of half a million dollars..." source: https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/fortune/ https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/fortune/ Today a copy costs $5.99, or $29.98 a year (source: https://www.magazine.store/fortune/ https://www.magazine.store/fortune/)
- mikestew 7y ago
  TFA, second sentence in, says it is the 2014 equivalent to $174. I imagine those reading Fortune at the time could readily scrape together $174/year, depression or not.
ggm 7y ago
They certainly got that in the future, our lives are dominated by machines, not nature. And the keyboard is not only on point, There are groups dedicated to re-creating that exact look and feel.
garmaine 7y ago
Modernist design is too tied to fascism to be nostalgic for me.
- lyjackal 7y ago
  Nazi aesthetics were not really modernist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_the_Third_Reich https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_the_Third_Reich A lot of hearkening back to "better more pure times"
  - garmaine 7y ago
    I didn’t say Nazi. Modernism is an art movement that came into being alongside Italian fascism: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/263882 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/263882
disillusioned 7y ago
Hmm, I wish they had some sample articles from inside these issues.
hellofunk 7y ago
These are very very beautiful, real framable art, I must say I really long for that kind of a time.

76 points by benbreen 7y ago

Reminds me of these science and tech ads: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/albums/72157612943324998 https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/albums/721576129433... Wish there were more ads like this today - they're much more visually impressive than the ones I see today

asveikau 7y ago
I know it's the way they talked and thought back then, but so much emphasis on Men of Science, with emphasis on Manliness in those ads. "Men who think", etc. Pretty jarring for recent times.
- IC4RUS 7y ago
  https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/3329503525/in/album-72157612943324998/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/3329503525/in/album... Yeah it's not so subtle in some...
alkylketone 7y ago
The massive belief in the curative power of science for all ills is what I find so alluring in the early 20th century posters. They're engaging to me because there's an inherent optimism in many of them!
- zamfi 7y ago
  There was reason to be optimistic!

deeg 7y ago

"One dollar a copy"...that must have been a lot of money in the depth of the Depression.

tony 7y ago
> $1 in 1938 → $18.24 in 2019 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938?amount=1 https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938?amount=1 > "Despite the Depression, and a cover price of $1 in an era when the Sunday New York Times cost five cents, Fortune was an immediate success. It debuted in February 1930 with 30,000 subscribers and by 1937 it had a circulation of 460,000, with annual profits of half a million dollars..." source: https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/fortune/ https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/blog/fortune/ Today a copy costs $5.99, or $29.98 a year (source: https://www.magazine.store/fortune/ https://www.magazine.store/fortune/)
mikestew 7y ago
TFA, second sentence in, says it is the 2014 equivalent to $174. I imagine those reading Fortune at the time could readily scrape together $174/year, depression or not.

ggm 7y ago

They certainly got that in the future, our lives are dominated by machines, not nature. And the keyboard is not only on point, There are groups dedicated to re-creating that exact look and feel.

garmaine 7y ago

Modernist design is too tied to fascism to be nostalgic for me.

lyjackal 7y ago
Nazi aesthetics were not really modernist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_the_Third_Reich https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_the_Third_Reich A lot of hearkening back to "better more pure times"
- garmaine 7y ago
  I didn’t say Nazi. Modernism is an art movement that came into being alongside Italian fascism: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/263882 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/263882

disillusioned 7y ago

Hmm, I wish they had some sample articles from inside these issues.

hellofunk 7y ago

These are very very beautiful, real framable art, I must say I really long for that kind of a time.