Fleur Fenton Cowles (January 20, 1908 – June 5, 2009
by

Enid Nemy Enid Nemy (born 1924) was a reporter and columnist for ''The New York Times'' for many years. She began at the Times in 1963, and remained for four decades before retiring. She was awarded the 1984 Matrix Award ''"for achievement in newspapers and w ...

) 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 or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

(although she often claimed to have been born in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. ...

).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. Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr. (1903–1985) was an American newspaper and magazine publisher. He was co-owner of the Cowles Media Company, whose assets included the '' Minneapolis Star'', the ''Minneapolis Tribune'', the ''Des Moines Register'', '' ...

(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. 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 cabin by the junctio ...

'' and the ''

Minneapolis Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

''. 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 and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Sussex, as well as

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Career

In the early and mid 1930s, she wrote a weekly column for ''

The New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

''. 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 continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', "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 Sidney Joseph Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for ''The New Yorker''. He also wrote for several other magazines ...

in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' 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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

''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 was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

, Simone de Beauvoir,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

(''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. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which ha ...

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's bes ...

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography S ...

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

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 thr ...

, and

Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson, CBE (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 ...

. 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 an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

at the coronation of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. She was a member of the Founding Council of the

Rothermere American Institute The Rothermere American Institute is a department of the University of Oxford dedicated to the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the United States of America and its place in the world. Named after the Harmsworth family, Viscounts Roth ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. In 1996, the book ''The Best of Flair'' collected much of the material from the magazine she founded. Her paintings from the books ''Tiger Flower'' and ''Lion and Blue'' are to be made into three-dimensional computer-animated films. Fleur Cowles' painting "Desert Journey" was reproduced as the cover of the 1968 Donovan 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 elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

in Sussex,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, 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 one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

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 American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

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 centenarians American expatriates in England 20th-century American women writers American artists Writers from New York City Women centenarians 21st-century American women