Abstract
Fortuneportentously announced its aim in the first issue in February 1930: “Fortune'spurpose is to reflect Industrial Life in ink and paper and word and picture as the finest skyscraper reflects it in stone and steel and architecture.” The magazine's copious use of painting, literary writing, and artistic photography gave it a luxurious feel that few early reviewers failed to praise. The advertising firm Young and Rubicam, for instance, applauded the magazine's aestheticization of business: “A Toast to YouFortune… You've taken what are sometimes called ‘prosaic business’ and ‘sordid industry’ – you have viewed them with imagination, insight, and beauty … No longer is business a column of figures, or work a daily grind. Here is epic enterprise, a panorama of romance, adventure, conquest – with beauty in factories and derricks.” Upgrading the visual and textual environment of the business magazine,Fortuneprovided business with the elegance of the aristocracy and the allure of a Hollywood star.
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