Clarence Coles Phillips (October 3, 1880June 13, 1927) was an American artist and illustrator who signed his early works ''C. Coles Phillips'', but after 1911 worked under the abbreviated name, ''Coles Phillips''. He is known for his stylish images of women and a signature use of

negative space Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and s ...

in the paintings he created for advertisements and the covers of popular magazines.

Early life

Phillips was born in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northe ...

, the son of Anna Seys and Jacob Phillips. From 1902 to 1904, he attended

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...

in his native state, where he was a member of

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Delt, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in C ...

. His illustrations were published in the 1901–1904 editions of the school's yearbook, ''The Reveille''. After leaving Kenyon, Phillips moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, determined to earn a living through his art. He took night classes for three months at the

Chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase C ...

School of Art—his only formal artistic training—before establishing his own advertising agency. One of Phillips's employees was the young

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

, his former classmate. In 1907, Phillips met with J. A. Mitchell, the publisher of ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'' magazine, and was hired onto its staff at the age of twenty-six. Phillips would be associated with the magazine throughout his life.

Career

The work of Phillips quickly became popular with the ''Life'' readers. In May 1908, he created a cover for the magazine that featured his first "fadeaway girl" design with a figure whose clothing matched, and disappeared into, the background.Coles Phillips, 1880-1927
, Americanillistration.org website Phillips developed this idea in many subsequent covers. Phillips's use of

allowed the viewer to "fill-in" the image; it also reduced printing costs for the magazine, as "the novelty of the technique and the striking design qualities masked the fact that ''Life'' was getting by with single color or two-color covers in a day when full-color covers were de rigueur for the better magazines".Jim Vadeboncoeur's biography of C. Coles Phillips
/ref> Phillips worked in

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

and always painted from life; according to his biographer, Michael Schau, "he refused to work from photographs or to use the

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

". Phillips produced cover art for other national magazines besides ''Life'', including ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'', which for two years (beginning in July 1912) made him their sole cover artist. Phillips also created many advertising images for makers of women's clothing, and for such clients as the

Overland automobile The Overland Automobile Company was an American automobile manufacturer in Toledo, Ohio. It was the founding company of Willys-Overland and one of the earliest mass producers of automobiles. History The Overland Automobile department was foun ...

company and

Oneida Community The Oneida Community was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70, making it possible for the ...

flatware. His series depicting women wearing Holeproof Hosiery products was considered daring for its time. Phillips's works also appear in the 1921 and 1922 editions of the

U. S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

yearbook, ''

Lucky Bag The Lucky Bag is the term for the United States Naval Academy yearbook dedicated to the graduating classes. A traditional ''Lucky Bag'' has a collection of photos taken around the academy and photographs of each graduating officer along with a ...

''.

Personal life

From 1905 until his death, Phillips lived and worked in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state o ...

. His work habits were regular; his other activities included raising pigeons, a hobby he had pursued from the age of eight years. In December 1907 Phillips met Teresa Hyde, a nurse who became his most frequent model during his early years. They married in early 1910. In 1924 he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

of the kidney (Renal TB), and for the remainder of his life he was frequently ill. In January 1927, when problems with his eyesight made painting difficult, he dedicated himself to writing.Schau & Phillips 1975, p. 46. Phillips died in New Rochelle at his home, of his kidney ailment on June 13, 1927, at the age of forty-seven. The funeral service was held on June 14 at the Sutton Manor home in New Rochelle and officiated by the Rev. Paul Gordon Favour from Trinity Episcopal Church of New Rochelle. Artist and friend, J.C. Leyendecker eulogized him as an artist "unique in his field, one with a highly developed sense of decoration and color... he was ahead of most men in depicting the American type of young womanhood." The body was then taken to Fresh Pond Crematory for cremation.

Exhibitions

Phillips's works are often exhibited alongside those of other notable graphic artists. In 2002, the Swann Gallery's “American Beauties: Drawings from the Golden Age of Illustration,” featured Phillips,

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...

, Wladyslaw Benda, and Nell Brinkley, among others. Phillips was also included in the Norman Rockwell Museum's "Toast of the Town: Norman Rockwell and the Artists of New Rochelle," and in "Illustrating Modern Life: The Golden Age of American Illustration from the Kelly Collection” at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

. In 2015, the Oneida Community Mansion House presented an exhibition focused on Phillips’s ads created for Oneida silverware from 1911 to 1924.

Notes

References

*Reed, Walt, ''Great American Illustrators'', New York: Crown Publishers, 1979, *Schau, Michael, and Coles Phillips, ''All-American Girl: the Art of Coles Phillips'', New York: Watson-Guptill, 1975,

External links

American Art Archives

* ttp://www.1920-30.com/art/coles-phillips.html 1920–30.com art – Coles Phillips
Jim Vadeboncoeur's biography of C. Coles Phillips
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Coles 1880 births 1927 deaths American magazine illustrators 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Kenyon College alumni People from Springfield, Ohio Artists from New Rochelle, New York Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state)