Coles Phillips and the Fadeaway Girls

Cover: Life, Oct 26, 1911

The change of seasons in San Francisco may be subtle, but magazine cover art doesn't have to be. One of my favorite autumn scenes is this cover by Coles Phillips from the original Life, October 26, 1911. Founder and editor John Ames Mitchell (1845-1918) used a mix of emerging and well-known commercial artists to decorate the covers of his humor magazine. Later, Harold Ross picked Life as one of his inspirations for The New Yorker. Take a look through volumes of Life to get a feeling for the sensibility of the time and the impact this magazine had on the most influential humor magazine of the twentieth century.

"The 'Fadeaway Girl' was the particular hallmark of Coles Phillips (1880-1927). Phillips pictured fashionably beautiful young women, using the device of tying the figure into the background by either color, value or pattern. This approach produced an intriguing poster-like effect of great simplicity; yet actually it was based on the most careful preliminary planning of shapes to carry out the illusion of the full figure.

"Phillips was born in Springfield, Ohio, and had his first pictures reproduced as a student contributor to the Kenyon College monthly magazine. Upon graduation he tackled a New York career, first as a solicitor for an advertising agency. Later he formed his own studio of artists. After further study at the Chase Art School, he decided to launch his art career. His first effort was sold to the old Life magazine as a double-page spread. When Life began to use color on its covers, the 'Fadeaway Girl' made her initial appearance and was an instant success. For many years thereafter she appeared in a variety of guises, but was always the patrician beauty.

"Phillips prided himself on being a good businessman-artist. Hs pictures, both for covers and for advertising campaigns, such as Holeproof Hosiery and Community Plate Silverware, were the product of a meticulous, cerebral craftsman."

                 Walt and Roger Reed, The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980 (1984), 106.

Summer may be gone, but autumn has its own rhythm. Visit the library and see the "Fadeaway Girls" and more. The original New York Life magazine may be found in the Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor, in the Book Arts & Special Collections Center.