Exakta, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Leo Lionni)

There are many reasons it’s great to get things from Steven Heller. The top reason is that he has great things. The second-top reason is that when we’re lucky, he’s written about an item, and it saves us a lot of work. He’s written about this particular publication in Print. Here’s what he had to say on September 13, 2021:

The Exakta Camera Company in Bronxville, NY, was the North American importer and distributor of the Exakta line made by Ihagee in Dresden, Germany. Part of the USSR zone after World War II, the enterprise published and distributed Exakta magazine for free to camera owners until 1953, when they began selling it.

This was a gem, a rare find in the periodical design pantheon. Early issues of the magazine were designed by Midcentury Modernists, including Leo Lionni (in a Constructivist-inspired style), Alexey Brodovitch (employing his signature experimental approach), Ernst Reichl (known as a book designer) and David Sala (who is unknown to me).

With the exception of Brodovitch's issue, showing an abstracted photo of a couple doing exercises, the interiors were fairly practical and commonplace and did not live up to the promise of the covers. Eventually, the magazine was transformed into a dealer buyer's guide with trite, cute cover images. But for a brief moment, modern design triumphed.

This particular issue was designed by Leo Lionni.