Cassandre (A. M. Cassandre, Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron)

Cassandre (January 24, 1901 - June 17, 1968), also known as A. M. Cassandre, was the pen name of Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron, a renowned French commercial artist and designer of the mid-20th century. He is best known for his stunning posters designed for railways and shipping companies, as well as his development of several notable typefaces. Mouron was born to French parents in Kharkiv, then the Russian Empire, now part of independent Ukraine. In his youth, he moved to France to study at the École des Beaux-Arts (briefly) and the Académie Julian in Paris, studying under the painter Lucien Simon (1861 - 1945) at the latter. Although his passion was painting, due to financial necessity Mouron took a job with the design studio Hachard in 1922 and began to use the pseudonym Cassandre. Influenced by avant-garde movements like Cubism, Futurism, and Bauhaus architecture, Cassandre submitted innovative designs that won him accolades and supporters, allowing him to establish his own successful advertising agency called Alliance Graphique. He also taught graphic design at the École des Arts Décoratifs and then at the École d'Art Graphique in Paris. Cassandre's had achieved remarkable success on the eve of the Second World War, including an American foray that included an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and cover designs for Harper's Bazaar, but his career took a hit due to the war. During and after the war, he branched into other fields including costume and stage design as well as a return to painting. He also continued his commercial art business, designing the iconic logo of Yves Saint Laurent in the early 1960s among other successes.