Do you know Peter Knapp?

📸 Oh! Artist: The man who redefined and infused graphic rhythm into fashion.

May 23, 2024

Your Creative Letter is a weekly source of inspiration, creative insights, and thoughtful reflections on creativity, the creative role, building a creative business, life and more. I appreciate each one of my readers. Thank you for being here! If you enjoy this letter, show some → 💖 put a heart on it. You can support my writing by becoming a free or paid subscriber. Find out more ways to share the love here.

👋 Dear creative. How are you doing today?

The way you see things can change many worlds…

For the past few weeks, I was forced to slow down, I pushed my limits in many ways. As you know, the body speaks and rules. Despite having the right motivation, I found myself having to stop working. I realized that for this season of my growth, I do the best I can and there is no rush or race. Just a constant rewiring of the method and strategy to get to a goal.

Uncertainty can take a toll on our mood and It is not easy to get back up, but clarity gets you back up! The distance from overly focusing on work helped me a lot. Moreover, I asked for advice from a mentor and friend. She shared that the collective situation for online businesses is getting tough with more services, talents, and companies in the market, it is harder to stand out. We motivated each other by releasing the effort. Sometimes, the release is the most relevant action to take.
This reconsideration of my efforts and actions has helped me see the bigger picture. As I get new exciting ideas for my studio and newsletters, I want to put these ideas into motion. Yet, at the appointed time, step by step. For example, I will introduce you to a new section of the newsletter very soon. We will start talking Business Creatives!

As for today, let’s dive into the Oh! Artist with Peter Knapp. An artist who is a multiple-in-one. One who has paved many fields and has redefined his artistic identity ever since. I will share my insights on his journey and how it can inspire us as creatives to own our multiples and prune our craft.
Sending disruption vibes 🦄

A Pioneer Art Director: The Visual Language of Elle Magazine

When I received as a gift the Elle magazine's anniversary book, with some of his pieces and overall vision for the magazine, I was thrilled. I have kept that book as a treasure trove of inspiration. It often reminds me of the power of ideas and intentions within a field. The story of Peter Knapp celebrates the right time and place.
He was discovered by founder Hélène Lazareff, who invited him to join the magazine with a purpose: bringing fashion to every woman in France (to the woman next door). Both democratized and challenged how women were portrayed in magazines in the ‘60s, bringing movement, the power of color, and diversity added to a splash of playfulness into the frame. This new direction helped to bring forth new ideas and societal changes.

When your photographic eye becomes the graphic language

Peter Knapp said in one interview that he did not consider himself a graphic designer or photographer. He states that he uses the mediums that fit to bring his vision to life: he is an eye before a title. I always loved his ability to be multiple, navigating many languages yet creating his own language.

His covers and layouts are iconic. They have been highly inspirational for many institutions, fashion and graphic designers, and more. He infused into his work so many references that he observed and experienced that his work became a language. Surrounded by fashion designers like André Courrèges, who brought graphic forms and architecture to fashion, Peter's mastery celebrated innovation in fashion. He was a pioneer in capturing these unique changes. From that observation, it is quite easy to understand how his environment elevated his eye for disruption.
One of the first things that amazed me in his body of work was his graphic identity, and then he surprised me with his cinematography. He used movement in playful and intentional ways, bringing some life to the models and allowing female figures to breathe within these pages. The era was different, and I guess that freedom was also a trait and goal of Elle magazine. Today, we can witness such freedom in independent press magazines, but the current Elle layout and design have lost some of that spark.
The DNA Peter Knapp brought to Elle, or other collaborations, is DNA. Infusing into publications, movies, and books his unique approach of creating images with dedication for crafting and pruning stories. His work is identifiable; even when it is different and changes, he stands out (novelty is also one of his traits). What is remarkable about his work is that he is an art director. He has a vision and chooses the needed talents to bring that vision to life. In doing that, he makes artists, photographers, or even illustrators work on topics they could have never been exposed to because the source of the brief is Peter Knapp.
He redefined what an art director is by owning and crafting his images. Thanks to his creative freedom and audacity, he was able to lead fellow peers towards the ideal of creating an image that answers the brief by disrupting the norm. That avant-garde style made his work eye-catching and appealing to many markets. He did theater, decoration, scientific magazines, movies, and more.

A creative can be creative everywhere. That is the challenge and gift.

The Courreges Bomb
The 1960s, revolutionary years, when all the codes were to be overturned. And it was André Courrèges who abolished the laws of fashion with his symbolic snip that introduced the miniskirt. It was a scandal! But it was a joy, and Hélène Lazareff, stunned by such audacity, changed the magazine's content overnight and sent the girls flying into space, photographed by historic artistic director, Peter Knapp.
Once upon a time... Elle magazine. From 1945 to today.

Craft images to transmit an idea, a vision, an aesthetic

This interview is a gem. We discover how important Peter Knapp’s legacy is and how impactful it has become. He left Zurich and found success in France, which opened his work to the world. His work is strategic and playful, but more than ever, he reminds us of how things have shifted in our digital world. How creativity and the price of creating have evolved.

Being recognizable is to have a language.

Peter Knapp's Space

💪 5 takeaways from Peter Knapp’s legacy

His work is a masterclass in branding and marketing, but also talent acquisition and becoming a magnet to people. We can learn and observe numerous ideas and realizations from his vision and process.

The idea prevails, not the medium or the job title. Peter Knapp did not limit himself to a genre. He works as an artisan and explores as many relevant directions to seize and tell.
Think strategic: how do you disrupt and own a space? Instead of creating a familiar series of covers that could be the same every week, he shifted things up each time. Every cover and layout was different. The magazine was as unique as its readers, every week brought new surprises and ideas.
As creatives, we are asked to stand out with our work, ideas, and vision. Today, with the abundance of talent, this is a challenging task. Yet, the solution lies in momentum, following your gut, and being visible to the right people. Peter Knapp made his work visible, and it caught the eye of decision-makers.
Art has always been integrated into his work, collaborations, and curiosity. Art leads the way and is a source of joy, inspiration, and action! He was also a painter, and he even worked with Yves Klein.
Be a multiple in one and own it. Peter Knapp succeeded in crafting such a world of his own, where being multiple in one was a default. Today, more than ever, creatives are prompted to choose and specialize, making this approach challenging as a positioning. Yet, Peter explored various fields and thrived. The choice to specialize or experiment should not be planned but reside in a calling to experiment. From that freedom comes confidence, authority, and, most importantly, an understanding of what you like and dislike. Beyond all, it highlights purpose in the making.

What about you, did you know about this artist and disruptive eye?

💡More about his vision: ✦ Pioneer Art Director ✦ Exhibition at the Cité de la Mode in Paris ✦ Creativity is freedom

🤩 Creative awe

🖼️ Eva has some Peter Knapp vibe (A unique language that can fit into press, media, galleries, and the storytelling of our pop culture).
🐑 Weaving as a Therapy (Salman Khoshroo’s wool art delights in softness).
🌱 Embody the design (Marcellina Akpojotor celebrates African stories brilliantly. I love the material and scenes so close to childhood moments!).
🍿Fiasco (This show made me laugh like never before. Absurd can be hilarious. I have never seen Pierre Niney like this! And I do love these new role choices.
Teaser: a movie set and many, many, many roadblocks to success).
📸 Photographic identity (Intricacies between branding and photography).

I hope you enjoyed this new issue. I leave you with one of my pépites these days, Marsh is 🔥.

Take good care,
Keva.