M. Peter Piening, Pencil Signed Abstract Geometric Graphic Design Lithograph Print, Bauhaus Artist, 1968

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M. Peter Piening was born on March 14, 1908 in Grabow, Germany. He began his education at a private school … Read more M. Peter Piening was born on March 14, 1908 in Grabow, Germany. He began his education at a private school in Italy, studied at the Jesuit school of Kloster Ettal in Bavaria, and attended the German Stettin Gymnasium, where he graduated in 1926. Between 1926 and 1928 Piening studied design at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. There he was taught by multiple famous twentieth-century artists, including Joseph Albers, Paul Klee and Mies van der Rohe. After receiving his master’s degree from the Bauhaus in 1929, Piening enrolled at the University of Berlin and obtained his PhD in philosophy in 1931.

Piening spent his early career free-lancing as an illustrator and artist for various publishing companies, eventually settling in Paris to work for Condé-Nast’s French publication of Vogue. In 1934 he moved to the United States to work in Condé-Nast’s New York City office. For the next two decades, Piening worked for many important advertising agencies and magazine publishers, including the N. W. Ayer and J. Walker Thompson agencies and Life and Fortune magazines. As art director for Life in the 1930s and for Fortune in the 1940s, Piening completely redesigned the layout of each magazine. He also redesigned the layouts for thirty-four other major American magazines, including Town & Country and Cosmopolitan.

Through his design work, Piening had a great impact on the American public, although the millions who encountered his work most likely never knew his name. Between 1934 and 1964, Piening designed over sixty logos and trademarks for internationally-known products and companies. His most widely-recognized logo may have been the three interlocking rings of Ballantine beer. Piening’s other trademark designs include the Lincoln Zephyr, Syracuse China, the National Housing Center, and a number of Syracuse University programs including the Maxwell School. All of Piening’s designs are marked by simple, clean lines and basic shapes, such as circles and squares. In 1964 Syracuse University published Trademarks and Symbols Designed by M. Peter Piening, a book containing a number of Piening’s most famous designs. In a forward to this book, Chancellor William Tolley wrote that Piening was “clearly one of the world’s most outstanding graphic designers.” After two years in Paris working for "Vogue Magazine," he emigrated to the United States in 1934 to work for Conde-Nast's New York office. In the late 30s he was art director for "Life" magazine and in the 40s was art director of "Fortune" magazine. He designed many memorable covers for "Fortune."

Along with his personal career, Piening also devoted time to teaching future generations of graphic artists. While in New York City, Piening taught at the Art Students’ League and in the adult education program at New York University. Syracuse University hired him in 1958 as a professor of advertising design at the School of Art. Under Piening’s direction, the design department grew to include general illustration and fashion illustration. Piening was also the director of the Syracuse University Design Center, developed in the early 1960s. In the Design Center, he produced all of the graphics for University publications. Students worked alongside Piening, under whose direction they received invaluable hands-on experience in graphic and logo design. Piening had a great impact on the advertising design program; he helped it to develop an international reputation, and the students who graduated were highly sought after by advertising agencies and publishing companies across the country. His stye is similar to Jimmy Ernst in a hard edged Abstract Geometric Vein.
Piening retired from Syracuse University in 1973. He died on July 18, 1977 in Palm Springs, California. See less