Seventeen Magazine Cover, July 1949

Cipe Pineles was the first woman to serve as art director at a major American magazine. She held that role at Seventeen from 1947 to 1950 and later at Glamour and Charm. At a time when women were rarely given creative leadership in publishing, she was not only doing the job but setting a new standard for it.

This July 1949 cover is a strong example of her work. A young woman in a navy swimsuit sits with a red and white striped umbrella, and the image is mirrored so that she and the Seventeen logo appear both right side up and upside down. For 1949 that compositional choice was bold and unexpected. The cover is clean, confident and still feels modern today.

Pineles also made a point of commissioning fine artists rather than commercial illustrators for Seventeen, which was unusual at the time and raised the visual quality of the entire publication. Her work shaped how a generation of young American women saw themselves in print. She deserves far more recognition in design history than she typically receives.