Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 – July 25, 1951) was a German-American illustrator, considered one of the preeminent American illustrators of the early 20th century. He is best known for his poster, book and advertising illustrations, the trade character known as The Arrow Collar Man, and his numerous covers for ''The Saturday Evening Post''. Between 1896 and 1950, he painted more than 400 magazine covers. During the Golden Age of American Illustration, for ''The Saturday Evening Post'' alone, he produced 322 covers, and 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. He "virtually invented the whole idea of modern magazine design."

Early life

Leyendecker (called 'J.C.' or 'Joe') was born on March 23, 1874 in Montabaur, Germany to Peter Leyendecker (1838–1916) and Elizabeth Ortseifen Leyendecker (1845–1905). He was the first-born son; his brother Francis Xavier was born three years later. A sister, Mary Augusta, the third and last child, arrived after the family emigrated to America.

In 1882, the Leyendecker family immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, where Elizabeth's brother Adam Ortseifen was vice-president of the successful McAvoy Brewing Company. After working in late adolescence for a Chicago engraving firm, J. Manz & Company, and completing his first commercial commission of 60 Bible illustrations for the Powers Brothers Company, J. C. sought formal artistic training at the school of the Chicago Art Institute.

In 1895, the April–September issue of '' The Inland Printer'' had an introduction to J.C. Leyendecker. The article described his work for J. Manz & Company, and his intention to study in Paris. It featured one of his sketches, and two book covers he had illustrated, provided by E.A. Weeks, a Chicago publisher between 1893 and 1899. That year, Leyendecker created his first poster, also for E.A. Weeks, for the book ''One Fair Daughter'' by Frank Frankfort Moore.

After studying drawing and anatomy under John Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, J. C. and younger brother Frank enrolled in the Académie Julian in Paris for a year, where they were exposed to the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, and Alphonse Mucha, a leader in the French Art Nouveau movement.

Career

In 1897, the Leyendecker brothers returned to America and set up residence in an apartment in Hyde Park, Illinois. They had a studio in Chicago's Fine Arts Building at 410 South Michigan Ave. On May 20, 1899 of that year, Joe received his first commission for a '' Saturday Evening Post'' cover – the beginning of his forty-four-year association with the most popular magazine in the country. Ultimately he would produce 322 covers for the magazine, introducing many iconic visual images and traditions including the New Year's Baby, the pudgy red-garbed rendition of Santa Claus, flowers for Mother's Day, and firecrackers on the 4th of July.

In 1900, Joe, Frank, and their sister Mary moved to New York City, then the center of the US commercial art, advertising and publishing industries. During the next decade, both brothers began lucrative long-term working relationships with apparel manufactures including Interwoven Socks, Hartmarx, B. Kuppenheimer & Co., and Cluett, Peabody & Company. The latter resulted in Leyendecker's most important commission when he was hired to develop a series of images of the Arrow brand of detachable shirt collars. Leyendecker's Arrow Collar Man, as well as the images he later created for Kuppenheimer Suits and Interwoven Socks, came to define the fashionable American male during the early decades of the twentieth century. Leyendecker often used his favorite model and life partner, Charles Beach (1881–1954).

Another important commission for Leyendecker was from Kellogg's, the breakfast food manufacturer. As part of a major advertising campaign, he created a series of twenty "Kellogg's Kids" to promote Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

In 1914, the Leyendeckers, accompanied by Charles Beach, moved into a large home and art studio in New Rochelle, New York, where J. C. would reside for the remainder of his life. During the first World War, in addition to his many commissions for magazine covers and men's fashion advertisements, J. C. also painted recruitment posters for the United States military and the war effort.

The 1920s were in many ways the apex of Leyendecker's career, with some of his most recognizable work being completed during this time. Modern advertising had come into its own, with Leyendecker widely regarded as among the preeminent American commercial artists. This popularity extended beyond the commercial, and into Leyendecker's personal life, where he and Charles Beach hosted large galas attended by people of consequence from all sectors. The parties they hosted at their New Rochelle home/studio were important social and celebrity making events.

As the 1920s marked the apex of J. C. Leyendecker's career, so the 1930s marked the beginning of its decline. Around 1930–31, Cluett, Peabody, & Co. ceased using Leyendecker's illustrations in its advertisements for shirts and ties as the collar industry seriously declined after 1921. During this time, the always shy Leyendecker became more and more reclusive, rarely speaking with people outside of his sister Mary Augusta and Charles (Frank had died in 1924 as a result of an addiction-riddled lifestyle). Perhaps in reaction to his pervasive popularity in the previous decade, or as a result of the new economic reality following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the number of commissions Leyendecker received steadily declined. In 1936, the editor at the ''Saturday Evening Post'' for all of Leyendecker's career up to that point, George Horace Lorimer, retired, and was replaced by Wesley Winans Stout (1937–1942) and then Ben Hibbs (1942–1962), both of whom rarely commissioned Leyendecker to illustrate covers.Meyer, Susan E. "J.C. Leyendecker." In America's Great Illustrators, 136–159. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1978.

Leyendecker's last cover for the ''Saturday Evening Post'' was of a New Year Baby for January 2, 1943, thus ending the artist's most lucrative and celebrated string of commissions. New commissions continued to filter in, but slowly. Among the most prominent were posters for the United States Department of War, in which Leyendecker depicted commanding officers of the armed forces encouraging the purchases of bonds to support the nation's efforts in World War II.

Leyendecker died on July 25, 1951, at his estate in New Rochelle of an acute coronary occlusion.

Personal life

Many biographers have speculated on J. C. Leyendecker's sexuality, often attributing the apparent homoerotic aesthetic of his work to a homosexual identity. Without question, Leyendecker excelled at depicting male homosocial spaces (locker rooms, clubhouses, tailoring shops) and extraordinarily handsome young men in curious poses or exchanging glances. Leyendecker never married, and he lived with another man, Charles Beach, for much of his adult life. Beach was Leyendcker's studio manager and frequent model, and is assumed to have been his lover.

While Beach often organized the famous gala-like social gatherings that Leyendecker was known for in the 1920s, he apparently also contributed largely to Leyendecker's social isolation in his later years. Beach reportedly forbade outside contact with the artist in the last months of his life.

Due to his success as an illustrator, Leyendecker enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle which in many ways embodied the mood of the Roaring Twenties. However, when commissions began to wane in the 1930s, he was forced to curtail spending considerably. By the time of his death, Leyendecker had let all of the household staff at his New Rochelle estate go, with he and Beach attempting to maintain the extensive estate themselves. Leyendecker left a tidy estate equally split between his sister and Beach.

Leyendecker is buried alongside parents and brother Frank at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Charles Allwood Beach died of a heart attack on 21 June 1954 at New Rochelle. The exact location of his burial is unknown. Although the register for St. Paul's Church, New Rochelle, indicates internment at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, the cemetery has no record of the burial.

Body of work

Notable clients

* Amoco
* Boy Scouts of America
* The Century Company
* Chesterfield Cigarettes
* Cluett, Peabody & Company
* Collier's Weekly
* Cooper Underwear
* Cream of Wheat
* Curtis Publishing Company
* Franklin Automobile
* Hart Schaffner & Marx
* Howard Watch
* Ivory Soap
* Karo Corn Syrup
* Kellogg Company
* Kuppenheimer
* Overland Automobile
* Palmolive Soap
* Pierce Arrow Automobile
* Procter & Gamble
* The Timken Company
* Saturday Evening Post
* U.S. Army
* U.S. Marines
* U.S. Navy
* Wick Fancy Hat Bands
* Willys-Overland Company

Museum holdings

Examples of his work can be found in the collections of the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, RI, and in the Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago, IL.

Legacy

As the premier cover illustrator for the enormously popular ''Saturday Evening Post'' for much of the first half of the 20th century, Leyendecker's work both reflected and helped mold many of the visual aspects of the era's culture in America. The mainstream image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red fur-trimmed coat was popularized by Leyendecker, as was the image of the New Year Baby. depicting a young bellhop carrying hyacinths. It was created as a commemoration of President Woodrow Wilson's declaration of Mother's Day as an official holiday that year.

Leyendecker was a chief influence upon, and friend of, Norman Rockwell, who was a pallbearer at Leyendecker's funeral. In particular, the early work of Norman Rockwell for the ''Saturday Evening Post'' bears a strong superficial resemblance to that of Leyendecker. While today it is generally accepted that Norman Rockwell established the best-known visual images of Americana, in many cases they are derivative of Leyendecker's work, or reinterpretations of visual themes established by Rockwell's idol.

The visual style of Leyendecker's art inspired the graphics in ''The Dagger of Amon Ra'', a video game, as well as designs in ''Team Fortress 2'', a first-person shooter for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Leyendecker's work inspired George Lucas and will be part of the collection of the anticipated Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Leyendecker's ''Beat-up Boy, Football Hero'', which appeared on the cover of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on November 21, 1914, sold for $4.12 million on May 7, 2021. The previous world record for a J. C. Leyendecker original was set in December 2020, when Sotheby's sold his 1930 work ''Carousel Ride'' for $516,100.

Costume designer Carol Cutshall used Leyendecker's illustrations as inspiration for the costumes created for '' Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire'' on AMC, a 2022 television series adaptation of the 1976 novel by American author Anne Rice. Of the clothing designed specifically for the male characters Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt, Cutshall said, in part, "And the whole first two episodes, their style sense in many ways is a love letter to Leyendecker. Some things are just perfectly pulled from – like their formalwear, their tuxedos that they wear to the opera in 1917, and the black pinstripe suit with the green tie and the white boutonniere that Lestat wears to the du Lac family home for dinner – those are from a Leyendecker illustration." Cutshall also referenced Louis and Lestat's clothing being created from Leyendecker's illustrations as a way to draw a parallel between Louis and Lestat, who were shown in the series as having to keep their romantic relationship hidden from the public in the 1910s and 1920s, and Leyendecker and his life partner, Charles Beach.

Films and plays

''In Love with the Arrow Collar Man'', a play written by Lance Ringel and directed by Chuck Muckle at Theatre 80 St. Marks from November to December 2017, dramatizes the life of Leyendecker and his life partner Charles Beach.

''Coded'', a 2021 film documentary, tells the story of Leyendecker and premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2021.

Gallery

File:Leyendecker arrow color 1907.jpg, Illustration for Arrow Collar, 1907. J.C. Leyendecker
File:Arrow shirt 1920s.jpg, Arrow Shirt ad from the 1920s
File:Babynew.jpg, Leyendecker's December 28, 1907 cover of ''The Saturday Evening Post''
File:Saturday Evening Post 19 Aug 1911.jpg, Cover of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' August 19, 1911
File:Maev.jpg, Illustration for Queen Maev in ''Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race'', 1911
File:Leyendecker Drawing.jpg, Drawing from 1913
File:Leyendecker Football.jpg, Study for the cover of ''The Saturday Evening Post''
File:Joseph Christian Leyendecker - U.S. Marines (1917).jpg
File:Joseph Christian Leyendecker - The Century. August - Google Art Project.jpg,
File:America calls - enlist in the Navy LCCN2002712075.tif, Ad asking Americans to enlist in the Navy
File:Poster- The Pageant and Masque of St. Louis, Forest Park, May 28-31, 1914.jpg, Poster- The Pageant and Masque of St. Louis, Forest Park, May 28–31, 1914

See also

* Frank Xavier Leyendecker

References

Further reading

* Carter, Alice A., Judy Francis Zankel, and Terry Brown. ''. Americans Abroad: J. C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on American Illustration.'' New York: Society of Illustrators, 2008.
* Cutler, Judy Goffman, and Laurence S. Cutler. ''Norman Rockwell and His Mentor, JC Leyendecker.'' Newport, R.I. : National Museum of American Illustration, 2010.
* Cutler, Judy Goffman, and Laurence S. Cutler. ''J.C. Leyendecker: American Imagist.'' New York: Abrams, 2008.
* Ermoyan, Arpi. ''Famous American Illustrators.'' rans, Switzerland Published for the Society of Illustrators by Rotovision, 1997.
* Leyendecker, J. C. ''An Exhibition of Original Poster Designs ... Under the Auspices of "The Indland Printer"... January 11 to 31, 1898.'' 1898.
* Leyendecker, J. C. and Michael Schau. ''J. C. Leyendecker.'' New York " Watson-Guptill Publications, 1974.
* Leyendecker, J. C., and Norman Rockwell. ''The J. C. Leyendecker Poster Book.'' New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1975.
* Leyendecker, J. C. ''The Saturday Evening Post: An Illustrated Weekly Magazine ... December 29, 1906 ... New Year's.'' Philadelphia: s.n, 1906.
* Meyer, Susan E. ''America's Great Illustrators.'' New York : H. N. Abrams, 1978.
* Moroney, Lindsay Anne. ''High Art Joins Popular Culture: The Life and Cover Art of J.C. Leyendecker''. Thesis (Honors), College of William and Mary, 2004.
* Steine, Kent, J. C. Leyendecker, and Fred Taraba. ''The J. C. Leyendecker Collection: American Illustrators Poster Book.'' Portland, Ore. : Collectors Press, 1996.

External links

Leyendecker Collection at The National Museum of American Illustration
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20181122141355/https://www.openlettersmonthly.com/issue/december-2008-semi-obvious/ J.C. Leyendecker at Open Lettersbr>Leyendecker Collection at The Haggin MuseumUNCG American Publishers' Trade Bindings: J.C. Leyendecker
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leyendecker, Joseph Christian
1874 births
1951 deaths
Académie Julian alumni
Fashion illustrators
19th-century American painters
American male painters
20th-century American painters
Gay artists
German emigrants to the United States
LGBT artists from the United States
Culture of New Rochelle, New York
People from Westerwaldkreis
Artists from New Rochelle, New York
School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
People from the Rhine Province
Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
The Saturday Evening Post people
19th-century American male artists
20th-century American male artists