Know All Men by These Presents, Coles Phillips, 1880-1927

This drawing represents an excellent example of Phillips's unique "Fadeaway Girl," a design tour-de-force in which he uses negative space brilliantly to compose a dynamic, innovative, and attractive image in which the main emphasis falls upon the head and hands of the beauty. In this and other examples, he depicts the main part of the figure--usually the clothing--so that it blends into the background.

The filling-in of Phillips's flattened outlines meant the viewer was allowed to think and imagine, rather than simply to look. When Life Magazine began to use color on its covers in 1908, 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.

In this image the women is seated at a desk filled with gifts. Hanging above are gifts from various gentlemen callers: a photograph, a horn with a bell, a box, a purse, a fan, and the book "Of the Imitation of Christ."

Medium : 1 drawing : gouache, watercolor and charcoal over graphite underdrawing

Created/Published : Life Magazine cover illustration, January 27. 1910

Creator : Coles Phillips, 1880-1927, artist

Frame : 1" Silver, double matt, Size : 16 3/4" X 19 1/4"

Part of the Cabinet of Illustration Collection in the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

Price: $120.00

Availability: Usually ship in one to two weeks

Product #: FR0042