Clarence Coles Phillips

Christmas Greetings
by Clarence Coles Phillips

This is was on the cover of LIFE magazine back in December 2, 1909. It was one of the many Holdiay issues they do. I think this piece by Coles Phillips is portraying a Pathos(an emotional appeal) mode of appeal. The body language, direction of the way she's facing, and the action of placing a letter home/receiving a letter all relate to the sensitive nature during Christmas time. I also think they "fade away girl" look adds to the sensitive nature. The fact that she's blended with the background adds a metaphoric connection with the environment/time/season.

Clarence Coles Phillips (1880 – June 27, 1927^[1]) was an American artist.

He was born in Springfield, Ohio. While studying at Kenyon College in 1902, he found an audience for drawing in the school yearbooks. His drawings appear in the 1901-1904 issues of The Reveille, and in the 1921 and 1922 editions of the U.S. Naval Academy's yearbook, "Lucky bag". After leaving Kenyon, Phillips moved to New York determined to earn a living with his art. After taking classes in art school, Phillips started his own advertisement agency. In 1907, Phillips met with J.A. Mitchell, the publisher of Life Magazine, and was hired at the age of 26. Phillips would be associated with the magazine throughout his life.

Phillips became very popular with readers and was awarded cover assignments. In 1908, he created a cover that would become his trademark: by combining foreground and background elements of the same color, he created the "fadeaway girl," which became a popular convention in print art for decades to come.

Phillips lived and worked in New Rochelle, New York, a popular residential community for illustrators including J.C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell. He died in New Rochelle on June 27, 1927, at the age of 47, of a kidney ailment. The day he died, his good friend and neighbor J.C. Leyendecker took the four Phillips children into Manhattan to see the Charles Lindbergh Parade on Fifth Avenue.^[2]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coles_Phillips

More work from Clarence Coles Phillips using the "fadeaway girl" look