Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Which One? Saturday Evening Post Cover
1908

About the Item

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Right Sight Size 28.00" x 24.00", Framed 30.00" x 27.00" Cover of Saturday Evening Post Magazine, October 31, 1908. Exhibitions: It's a Man's World, Illustration Art by and for Men: November 14-17 2012, Illustration House NYC The National Arts Club NYC Jan 6- 19 2013 Christie's New York, Illustrating America: Norman Rockwell and His Contemporaries, November 30, 2013- January, 2014 Joseph Christian Leyendecker was one of the most famous and prolific illustrators of his time and painted one less cover for The Saturday Evening Post than Norman Rockwell. He was the creator of the cherubic New Year’s Baby and the handsome Arrow Shirt Man who set the style for men’s fashion for decades. In addition to his beautiful men, women and children, Leyendecker’s covers and advertisements depicted subjects ranging from sports to war to politics. This 1908 Post cover shows a young newsboy holding pictures of William Howard Taft, the Secretary of War, who was running for president against William Jennings Bryan, a popular orator. Taft won the election. Leyendecker created another memorable illustration. Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 - July 25, 1951) was one of the pre-eminent American illustrators of the early twentieth century. He is best known for his poster, book, and advertising illustrations, the iconic trade character known as the Arrow Collar Man, and his numerous covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Between 1896 and 1950, Leyendecker painted more than four hundred magazine covers. During 'The Golden Age of American Illustration', for the Saturday Evening Post alone, J. C. Leyendecker produced 322 covers, as well as many advertisement illustrations for its interior pages. No other artist, until the arrival of Norman Rockwell two decades later, was so solidly identified with one publication.

Creator:
Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874 - 1951, American)
Creation Year:
1908
Dimensions:
Height: 28 in (71.12 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Period:
1900-1909
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Fort Washington, PA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU38431505543
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Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Joseph Christian "J.C." Leyendecker was born in Germany in 1874. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1882. His eldest brother, Adolph, became a prominent stained glass artist, and Joe, as he was called, had an early artistic calling.

After studying at the Chicago Art Institute under John H. Vanderpoel, J.C. Leyendecker enrolled at the Académie Julien in 1896, where he studied for a year with his younger brother Frank in the Beaux-Arts tradition. During his time there, he was exposed to and influenced by the works of Art Nouveau painters and printmakers Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret and Alphonse Mucha, with whom he formed a strong friendship. The next year, he staged his first one-man exhibition at the Salon du Champ-de-Mars and made the auspicious acquaintance of Paul Gauguin.

In 1898, Leyendecker produced the first of 48 covers for Collier’s magazine. The next year, he painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post magazine, which was the beginning of a 44-year association with that esteemed publication. Throughout his career, he would also paint covers for Life magazine, illustrations for a library of books, and transform advertising for such companies as B. Kuppenheimer & Co. and Interwoven Socks. His work for Arrow Shirt is the most well-known and beloved.

Using his lover and manager, Charles Beach, as a model, Leyendecker created the ultimate image of modern American masculinity. His work for Kuppenheimer, also known as the House of Kuppenheimer, is just as iconic. Founded in 1876, the company became the manufacturer of uniforms for the United States Army during World War I. Thanks to Leyendecker's advertising, the firm became synonymous with the ultimate in male taste and desirability.

Unfortunately, near the end of his career, as Leyendecker’s associations with Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post came to an end, his work fell into obscurity. When he died in 1951, his great friend Norman Rockwell, who commemorated their relationship in his painting Waiting for the Art Editor, served as one of his pallbearers.

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(Biography provided by M.S. Rau)