Great Fortunes

Fortune magazine has a long history of hiring great illustrators and designers for their covers. Consequently the magazines now cost a small fortune if you can find them. Many of these artists are considered to be some of the greatest design legends of the past century. Those I feature here are all December issues and displayed in chronological order.
     The 1930 snowy shopping scene is illustrated by Ronald McLeod (though the color is rather skewed on this version however). The 1932 issue of Father Christmas is by E.H.Baker. The 1933 gift-wrapped boxes and the 1934 toy parade are by Antonio Petruccelli, who created 30 covers for Fortune during his lifetime (28 of them published). Many of them are featured here. Sidenote: Petruccelli was also responsible for many of the illustrations of the Seattle Worlds Fair promotions in 1962. There is a fascinating account of this also here on Full Table. The 1936 Christmas card exchange is by Erik Nitsche. Joseph Binder designed the 1937 issue of the tower of buildings and stars. The fir tree branches in the 1944 issue is by Maciver. 1945 issue of the department store is by Alex Steinweiss. The last bejeweled issue displayed from 1946 is by Alvin Lustig. Just some of the great bounty of good fortune found at Full Table. Below is one of the great unpublished cover designs by Antonio Petruccelli.