Watercolor, gouache, graphite pencil and colored pencil on illustration board
Dimensions:
Sight (Verified): 38.1 x 34.9 cm (15 x 13 3/4")
Mat: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22")
Type:
Painting
Date:
1947
Exhibition Label:
Boris Chaliapin was Time’s favorite cover artist for depicting movie actresses and women of elegance, such as Sophie Gimbel, the noted fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue’s Salon Modern in Manhattan. Gimbel was a leading proponent of the "New Look" in women’s clothing and fashioned her designs around the elements of simple lines, elegance, and expensive fabrics. The cover story focused on the "turmoil" in the fashion industry about identifying exactly "what is the New Look?"
Chaliapin apparently was struggling with his own sense of design when he first submitted this profile of Gimbel. Time editors must have questioned the bizarre placement of the draped model, which Gimbel seemingly wears like a hairpiece. In his redesign, which appeared on the magazine (below), Chaliapin posed Gimbel frontally and placed the suave model in the background.
Collection Description:
In 1978, Time magazine donated approximately eight hundred works of original cover art to the National Portrait Gallery. The museum is dedicated to telling the stories of individuals who have shaped the United States, and the Time Collection—featuring prominent international figures and events—enriches our understanding of the United States in a global context.
En 1978, la revista Time donó a la National Portrait Gallery cerca de 800 obras de arte originales creadas para sus portadas. Nuestro museo se dedica a narrar la historia de figuras que han contribuido a forjar el desarrollo de Estados Unidos, y es así que la Colección Time, que incluye retratos de importantes personalidades internacionales, nos ayuda a comprender mejor a nuestra nación en un contexto global.
