At many points in its almost 91-year history, TIME has offered up its iconic red border as a canvas, and asked renowned artists to illustrate the top stories of the day. From the striking Roy Lichtenstein pop art that accompanied a June 21, 1968 cover story on “The Gun in America” (see below) to Marc Chagall’s self-portrait that began our July 30, 1965 issue, readers have become accustomed to seeing cover images that have been painted, sculpted, collaged and transformed by some of the world’s most visionary talents.
December 14, 1936: Surrealist Salvador Dali
April 12, 1937: Virginia Woolf
May 7, 1945: Adolf Hitler
April 6, 1962: Sophia Loren
January 10, 1964: R. Buckminster Fuller
January 29, 1965, Today’s Teenagers
March 5, 1965: Jeanne Moreau
March 19, 1965: Martin Luther King
April 16, 1965: Rudolf Nureyev
July 30, 1965: Marc Chagall
March 3, 1967: Playboy’s Hugh Hefner
September 22, 1967: The Beatles
December 8, 1967: Bonnie and Clyde
May 24, 1968: Robert F. Kennedy
June 21, 1968: The Gun in America
July 11, 1969: The Sex Explosion
November 28, 1969: Raquel Welch
February 16, 1970: Jane, Henry and Peter: The Flying Fondas
November 29, 1976: Rauschenberg by Rauschenberg
March 19, 1984: Michael Jackson
>March 30, 1987: America’s Agenda
March 16, 1992: Jay Leno
Source: TIME Turns 90: The Fine Art of the Red Border, from Warhol to Lichtenstein
By: Amy Lombard
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Mr. Time
Portrait of Feodor Chaliapin with his son Boris, 1912
Boris Chaliapin (1904–1979) was the son of Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin and brother of The Name of the Rose (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986) actor Feodor Chaliapin, Jr.
Chaliapan trained as an artist there before journeying to Paris, France to continue his education. Eventually making his way to the United States, he found work with TIME magazine and in 1942 produced his first cover for them of a WWII general. Chaliapan often worked from photographs to create his covers, made with watercolors, tempera, pencil and other materials. Other than his speed and technical skill, Chaliapan was known for his portraits of beguiling starlets like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly.
He was the portrait artist TIME magazine’s editors turned to first when they needed a cover in a hurry. As TIME’s most prolific artist, he created 413 covers for the publication during his 28-year career, between 1942 and 1970. He could execute excellent likenesses in as little as 12 hours. Week after week, millions of faithful readers recognized Chaliapin’s familiar signature on the cover, and his co-workers nicknamed him “Mr. Time.”
“Chaliapan,” explains National Portrait Gallery curator Jim Barber, “tried to capture the essence of a person and their personality.” Though the magazine had contracts with a dozen or so other cover artists, Chaliapan was part of the prominent threesome dubbed the “ABC’s” with artists Boris Artzybasheff and Ernest Hamlin Baker. Known for his spot-on likenesses, Chaliapan could also be counted on for a quick turnaround. “Unlike the other cover artists that needed a week or two, Chaliapan… if pressed, he could crank out covers in two or three days,” says Barber.
By the end of that career, painted portraits were on their way out for magazine covers. Photographs and more thematic illustrations were being used more frequently. Chaliapan’s covers capture a snapshot of the news from days gone by, but also of the news industry itself. His final cover was of President Richard Nixon in 1970.
On May 17, 1963, TIME magazine put James Baldwin on the cover with the story “Birmingham and Beyond: The Negro’s Push for Equality.” And to create his portrait, the weekly called on artist Boris Chaliapan. Baldwin’s intense eyes and pensive expression stared out from newsstands across the country.
Walt Disney
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Elizabeth Taylor
Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte
Sophie Gimbel
Martin Luther King
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