Fleur Fenton Cowles (January 20, 1908 – June 5, 2009
by Enid Nemy) was an American writer, editor and artistPenelope Green, "Mirror, Mirror: Making Life a Bed of Roses", ''The New York Times'', October 10, 1999 best known as the creative force behind the short-lived ''Flair'' magazine.

Personal life

Fleur Fenton was born Florence Freidman in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(although she often claimed to have been born in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

).Fleur Cowles profile at Britannica.com
/ref> Her parents were Morris Freidman, a novelty salesman, and his wife, Lena. Her siblings adopted the surname Freeman later in life: Dr. Paul William Freeman, a dentist (1906–1966), and Mildred Freeman Goetze Fleur Cowles' first husband was Bertram Klapper, a manufacturer of wood shoe heels. They later divorced. Her second husband was Atherton "Pett" Pettingell Jr. (1901–1971), an advertising executive who was a grandnephew of Samuel M. Pettingell, who founded one of the first advertising agencies in America in 1850. They married prior to 1937 and divorced in 1946."Mrs Fleur Cowles Remarried in West", The New York Times, November 23, 1955 Her third husband was Gardner Cowles, Jr. (1903–1982), an heir to the

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Ent ...

, which for a long time owned the ''

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cab ...

'' and the ''

Minneapolis Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

''. Known as Mike, Cowles was the publisher of his family's '' Look magazine''. They married in 1946 and divorced in 1955. She kept his surname professionally. In November 1955, she married her fourth and last husband, Tom Montague Meyer (CBE), a timber executive. The Meyers lived for a number of years in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, as well as

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Career

In the early and mid 1930s, she wrote a weekly column for '' The New York World-Telegram''. In 1937, she became co-founder and executive vice president of the advertising agency Pettingell & Fenton Inc, which later became known as Hartman & Pettingell Inc, then again as Pettingell & Fenton, and finally as Dorland International-Pettingell Fenton Inc."Advertising News and Notes", ''The New York Times'', January 7, 1937 She founded it with her second husband, Atherton Pettingell, a former executive vice president of Blacker Advertising. Among its clients were A. S. Beck, the shoe concern, Helena Rubenstein, the cosmetics company, and Cohama Fabrics. She resigned from the firm in 1946. Describing herself as "rough, uncut, ndvigorous" as her trademark Russian emerald ring, she told ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', "I've worked hard, and I've made a fortune, and I did it in a man's world, but always, ruthlessly, and with a kind of cruel insistence, I have tried to keep feminine". In 1950, she was lampooned by the writer S. J. Perelman in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' as glamorous editor "Hyacinth Beddoes Laffoon". In 1947, she became an associate editor at ''Look'' magazine, and a year later, an associate editor at ''Quick'' magazine. She resigned her position at ''Look'' in November 1955 upon her separation from Gardner Cowles and moved to Europe, where she served as the magazine's foreign editorial consultant. Before founding ''Flair'', Cowles was a special consultant to the Famine Emergency Committee in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

''Flair''

Cowles founded ''Flair'' magazine in 1950, and it folded a year later. The magazine, which ''

'' described at its launch as "a fancy bouillabaisse of ''Vogue,'' ''Town & Country,'' ''Holiday,'' etc.," was celebrated not only because of its design and editorial production by European art director Federico Pallavicini (né Federico von Berzeviczy-Pallavicini) but also because of its lavish production. It was the resulting cost of production that killed the magazine, since the expensive special costs (for cover cut-outs for some issues, for example) could not be supported in the long run. This magazine is now sought after by collectors and sells for significant amounts on eBay. Contributors included

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

(''The Gypsy Angels Of Spain''),

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

, Clare Boothe Luce,

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his Light poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...

, Saul Steinberg,

Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec peoples, Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th cen ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

, and

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age of Mrs ...

. Essay by Quarles and 22 minute speech by Cowles In later decades, Cowles served on various government committees, such as writing speeches for the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

, and represented

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

at the coronation of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. She was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. In 1996, the book ''The Best of Flair'' collected much of the material from the magazine she founded. Fleur Cowles' painting "Desert Journey" was reproduced as the cover of the 1968

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

album Donovan In Concert.

Artwork

As ''Fleur Fenton Pettingell'' and ''Fleur Cowles Meyer'', she worked as a painter and illustrator. She also designed tapestries, accessories, and china for Denby Ltd.

Death

Fleur Fenton Cowles died on June 5, 2009, at a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, aged 101.

Bibliography

* Cowles, Fleur "All Too True: Twenty-Nine True Stories That Might Have Been Invented". Quartet Books, Ltd. (0-7043-2327-3) * Cowles, Fleur "An Artist's Journey". Collins. (0-00-215083-2) * Cowles, Fleur "The Best of Flair". Scriptum Editions. (1-902686-07-1) * Cowles, Fleur "The Best of Flair". Rizzoli Intl Pubns. (0-8478-2229-X) * Cowles, Fleur "The Best of Flair".

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Canada, Ltd. (0-06-017390-4) * Cowles, Fleur & De Campo, Brooke "Bright Young Things: London". Perseus Distribution Services. (2-84323-337-2) * Cowles, Fleur & Conder, Susan "Flower Decorations : A New Approach to Flower Arranging". Octopus Publishing Group. (1-85029-028-8) * Cowles, Fleur & Conder, Susan "Flower Decorations : A New Approach to Flower Arranging".

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

Publishing Group. (0-394-54473-0) * Cowles, Fleur "The Flower Game"

Publishers, Ltd. (0-00-216625-9) * Cowles, Fleur "The Flower Game''. W. Morrow. (0-688-02055-0) * Cowles, Fleur "Friends & Memories".

. (0-224-01140-5) * Cowles, Fleur "Friends & Memories". Reynal. (0-688-61200-8) * Cowles, Fleur "The Case of Salvador Dali". Heinemann (1959) * Cowles, Fleur "If I Were an Animal" Morrow. (0-688-06150-8) * Cowles, Fleur "The Life and Times of the Rose". Orion Books Ltd. (1-85592-533-8) * Cowles, Fleur "The Life and Times of the Rose: An Essay on Its History With Many of the Author's Own Paintings".

. (0-688-12082-2) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "Lion and Blue". Collins. (0-00-211495-X) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "Lion and Blue".

. (0-688-61164-8) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "The Love of Tiger Flower"

Publishers Ltd. (0-00-216208-3) * Cowles, Fleur & Conder, Susan "The New Guide to Flower Arranging". Octopus Publishing Group. (1-85029-182-9) * Cowles, Fleur "People as Animals". R. Clark. (0-86072-094-2) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "Romany Free". Granite Impex Ltd. (0-688-61193-1) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "Romany Free".

Publishers Ltd. (0-00-216725-5) * Cowles, Fleur & Fuentes, Carlos "She Made Friends and Kept Them".

Canada, Ltd. (0-00-255689-8) * Cowles, Fleur & Fuentes, Carlos "She Made Friends and Kept Them: An Anecdotal Memoir". HarperCollins Canada. (0-06-095505-8) * Cowles, Fleur & Fuentes, Carlos "She Made Friends and Kept Them: An Anecdotal Memoir".

. (0-06-018713-1) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "To Be a Unicorn".

Publishers Ltd. (0-00-217959-8) * Cowles, Fleur & Vavra, Robert "To Be a Unicorn".

Publishers. (0-688-06598-8)U.S. Library of Congress

References

External links

Fleur Cowles' obituary in ''The Daily Telegraph''
* 22 minute speech by Cowles. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowles, Fleur 1908 births 2009 deaths American women centenarians American expatriates in England 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American artists Writers from New York City 21st-century American women