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These photos were taken back in 2019 at an exhibition of the work of J.C. Leyendecker at Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, NC. I’ve arranged the works in chronological order. Much of the information included in this and the following four posts comes from the Reynolda House labels.

This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/XWiSQfFIOn0.

J.C. Leyendecker: creator of American icons

By the late 19^th century, new printing technologies and faster shipping methods led to the publication of magazines that circulated by the millions. Reading became mass entertainment, and illustrations – especially attractive covers – helped people choose which magazines to buy. Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951) was one of the top commercial artists of America’s Golden Age of Illustration, along with N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Charles Dana Gibson, and Frederic Remington. Roger Reed, a historian of illustration, comments: “J.C. Leyendecker’s main contribution is to have invented, along with other illustrators, the modern magazine cover as a miniature poster that would engage the viewer, impart an idea, and sell the issue, all within the few moments one browses at the newsstand.”

During the 1910s and 1920s, J.C.’s work was in constant demand. Through hundreds of advertisements and more than 400 magazine covers, he shaped Americans’ ideas of what elegance and sophistication looked like. Aside from glamorous women and handsome men, he painted charming children, romantic couples, and energetic athletes. J.C.’s concepts of Santa Claus, the New Year’s baby, and Mother’s Day remain with us today. We’ll see them all in the works that were exhibited at Reynolda House.

1898: Paris Street Scene

Leyendecker’s family moved from Germany to Chicago in 1882. J.C. and his younger brother, Frank, both studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In the spring of 1896, J.C. won a contest for the cover design of The Century magazine. With the prize money, he and Frank traveled to Paris to attend the  Académie Julian, whose faculty and alumni included William-Adolfe Bouguereau and Alphonse Mucha.

In Paris, the brothers developed distinctive styles. Both painted exclusively from live models, using a combination of oils and turpentine that dried faster than usual, so they could work more quickly. J.C.’s style involved broad brushstrokes with assured draftsmanship, so distinctive that it eventually became known as the “Leyendecker Look”. After J.C. had a successful exhibition in Paris in 1897, the brothers returned to the United States. By 1900, J.C. and Frank settled into a house in New Rochelle, NY, where J.C. lived for the rest of his life.

1898: Illustration for Poe’s “The Raven”

This 1898 illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (“Perched upon a bust of Pallas / just above my chamber door”) was the first illustration by J.C. to be published in the Saturday Evening Post. The Post became J.C.’s longest-running gig.

1904: Couple on Horseback

A cover for Collier’s magazine. Elegance, poise, and sophistication.

1904: Garden Walk

An early illustration for a story?

1904+: Saturday Evening Post covers for Christmas

From 1899 to 1943, J.C. created 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post – more than anyone else except Norman Rockwell, who limited himself to 321 covers in deference to his mentor.

J.C. created his first Christmas cover for the Post in 1904. The image of Santa Claus / Saint Nicholas had been evolving for centuries, but J.C. set it into final form in 1912, when he used as reference for his cover Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”. In the photo below, the 1912 cover is in the left column, second down.

1906: Hockey Player

One of my favorites in the show: that quiet moment of preparation before you go out and do it. If you zoom in on this one, you can see J.C.’s characteristic brushwork, bold and assured.

1907: Boy, Dog & Balloon

A charming Saturday Evening Post cover.

1907: Christmas Carolers

A cover for Collier’s Magazine.

More

• The Haggin Museum in Stockton, California, has a gallery devoted to J.C. Leyendecker’s paintings, including fourteen of his twenty “Kelloggs Kids”, created to sell corn flakes. This video includes glimpses of many of the works in the Haggin’s Leyendecker collection.
• A 20-minute film on J.C. Leyendecker came out in 2021, trailer here. I love Leyendecker, but even in the trailer, the animations in this movie gave me a headache, so I haven’t watched it.
• For more posts on museums and exhibitions, click the Museums tag.
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