Having lived and worked in Atlanta, the home of Coca-Cola, for nearly 20 years, this is my favorite TIME cover and the only one I have hanging in my house. – D.W. Pine, Creative Director, TIME.
This iconic May 15th, 1950 cover of TIME was painted by Russian artist Boris Artzybasheff, who was an influential member of the "Golden Age" of TIME illustrated covers in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
Called the “ABCs” - Artzybasheff, Ernest Hamlin Baker and Boris Chaliapin - the prolific trio produced more than 900 TIME covers and created a style that gave the publication character, strength and personality.
Artzybasheff painted more than 200 covers from 1941 until his death in 1965, including “World & Friend,” which served to illustrate a 4,000-word cover story on the rising influence of Coca-Cola around the world. As TIME wrote: “people almost everywhere are buying it as if it were the biggest glass of ambrosia in the world for a nickel. Actually, according to the official and modest definition of its makers, it is only "a soft drink . . . best described as delicious and refreshing." Its name, of course, is Coca-Cola.”
