"Which One? Saturday Evening Post Cover"   Lot no. 196

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By Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951)

1908
28.00" x 24.00", Framed 30.00" x 27.00"
Oil on Canvas
Signed Lower Right

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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.



Explore related art collections: Magazine Covers / Children / Saturday Evening Post Covers / Patriotic/Political / Men / 1900s / $100,000 & Above

See all original artwork by Joseph Christian Leyendecker

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Germany, and came to America at the age of eight. Showing an early interest in painting, he got his first job at 16 in a Chicago engraving house on the strength of some larger pictures he had painted on kitchen oilcloth. In the evenings after work, he studied under Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, and saved for five years to be able to go to France and attend the Academie Julian in Paris.

Upon his return, as a thoroughly trained artist with immense technical facility, Leyendecker had no difficulty in obtaining top commissions for advertising illustrations and cover designs for the leading publications. His first Post cover was done in 1899, and he did well over 300 more during the next 40 years. Among the most famous of these was his annual New Years Baby series.

His advertising illustrations made his clients famous. The Arrow Collar Man was a byword for the debonair, handsome male, and women wrote thousands of love letters to him in care of Cluett Peabody & Company. His illustrations for Kuppenheimer Clothes were equally successful in promoting an image of suited elegance. He was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977.A major retrospective exhibition of Leyendecker's work was mounted at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1997-98.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Germany, and came to America at the age of eight. Showing an early interest in painting, he got his first job at 16 in a Chicago engraving house on the strength of some larger pictures he had painted on kitchen oilcloth. In the evenings after work, he studied under Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, and saved for five years to be able to go to France and attend the Academie Julian in Paris.

Upon his return, as a thoroughly trained artist with immense technical facility, Leyendecker had no difficulty in obtaining top commissions for advertising illustrations and cover designs for the leading publications. His first Post cover was done in 1899, and he did well over 300 more during the next 40 years. Among the most famous of these was his annual New Years Baby series.

His advertising illustrations made his clients famous. The Arrow Collar Man was a byword for the debonair, handsome male, and women wrote thousands of love letters to him in care of Cluett Peabody & Company. His illustrations for Kuppenheimer Clothes were equally successful in promoting an image of suited elegance. He was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977.A major retrospective exhibition of Leyendecker's work was mounted at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1997-98.


Kent Steine