The Works of J.C. Leyendecker

[Baron Kurtz]

Dribble, dribble ...

Well, one could equally look at these pictures and see British, French, German, Japanese (name any other country ... let's say Italy) or American (shurely ... shay itsh not sho) propaganda posters of the thirties and forties. Art is, after all, a product of its time. And advertising art particularly.

When discussing the "classic" male beauty, one is not necessarily referring to perfection. Simply in the wide shouldered, lush haired, strong chinned figure we see masculinity. Check the southern (blacker) African and northern (more arabic-looking) African in the three kings poster. Very masculin. Nothing white and dribblish about it.

Draw what sells ...

bk

 

[clevispin]

He Was???

My caliper reference was to eugenics. Perhaps also an allusion to Herr Goering's "eclectic" personal art collection. I could also get into what Mr. Hoover thought re the "ideal" G man. The ubermensch is often associated with regimes with little tolerance for those of another ilk.

Maybe I'm way off.

m

 

[clevispin]

Baron,

The ironies abound. I doubt the audience was as receptive in 1931.

m

 

[scotrace]

Eyebrow Raised

I would hate to think that an artist whose work I admire so very much was actually a propaganda hack for supporting aryan superiority. Have you any supporting information?


Another (early) Golden Era artist I enjoy greatly is Maxfield Parrish. Anyone familiar?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Most assuredly!

I would hate to think that an artist whose work I admire so very much was actually a propaganda hack for supporting aryan superiority. Have you any supporting information?


Another (early) Golden Era artist I enjoy greatly is Maxfield Parrish. Anyone familiar?

M.P. Is , I think, My all time favorite artist! A great source of inspiration, along with N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell,Howard Pyle, Lyendecker, and others. The Golden Age of Illustration http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=314#
I wish I had been a part of it,...... :eusa_booh

 

[clevispin]

Hack

Scott,

I'm simply expressing my impressions of the illustrations within their general historical millieu. I've seen some of them before but knew nothing of the artist until I'd read about him in this thread. I'm not attacking the man personally but I'm a little disturbed by what I see as elitism in the images. I don't see a direct connection to National Socialism but I do see a connection to what one might call scientific humanism. This was the era of international chauvinism, militarism, nationalism and the American "Big Stick". In this country it was the time of anti-immigrant (Italian, Polish, Irish etc.) sentiment and the refinement of Jim Crow. By and large these images (and I suspect those of many of his contemporaries) were anything but "ethnic". I would argue that they were the very antithesis of it.

At that time, in this country as well as many others, the study of eugenics gained broader acclaim as did the practice of state sanctioned sterilization. I don't want to make a thesis of this but my main point is that the attitudes expressed in these drawings (of their time) prefigure a sinister cult of racial superiority not too far in their future. Given the man's personal predilictions I find this idea not only ironic but - well, telling in a way that we ought not get into in this forum.

You see, I shoot my mouth off and now I feel like an ass. I'll stay in the hat department from now on.

m

 

[BellyTank]

We're all fairly well balanced, intelligent people here... but true- it's difficult for these issues to not cross one's mind... given the era.
Most of us are probably aware of Eugenics, Anti-Semitism, White Superiority and Golden Era culture, politics and all. did you know that Sweden was still practising state sanctioned sterilization into the 1970s..?(!).

Advertising is about sending a 'positive' message- and most of Leyendecker's work that we see is commercial work. 'Elitism', as you put it, SELLS- product image maximization. There was still some innocence, optimism and hope in those days- and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I, for one appreciate your thoughts!

If I seemed scathing in revenge... forget about it.

Carry on-

B
T

 

[herringbonekid]

i think if we're going to look at these images as having an underlying 'white supremacy' angle then we may as well look at ALL fashion images today too, because they are still very much dominated by imagery of beautiful young white people.

 

[BellyTank]

Absolutely! that's what I was getting at- the consumer's perceived aspirations, their ideal and idyll-

B
T

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

It sounds to me like its getting over analyzed. At the time, supremecy in whites was common place in the United States. Havn't you gusy ever seen those movies with the black servents portrayed as characetures? If thats the thing someone would see in these drawings I'm not at all surprised, given the era. But whats all this hub-bub about Nazis? Alot of these were drawn way before the Nazis existed. Most of Leyendecker's works appear to be done in the 1910's and earlier.

 

[Flash Gordon]

I live in New Rochelle, New York (yes, I know...Rob and Laura Petrie). But it was also Leyendecker's home. He had a beautiful studio here on Mount Tom Road. It's now a private elementary school, but they'll let you take a look around if you drop Leyendecker's name. There's no plaque or any mention of the fact that he lived there, just a couple of prints of his paintings in the lobby.

Also, Norman Rockwell lived here early in his career. In fact, there's an original Rockwell painting in the children's section of the New Rochelle Public Library.

Frederick Remington painted many of his "western" illustrations here as well.

It's also the home of Terrytoons cartoons (think Heckel and Jeckel) and Jay Leno.

Here's another illustrator you may want to check out: Dean Cornwell. Wonderful!

 

[Griemersma]

Parrish and Lyendecker...

Two of my favorite illustrators. It's interesting that they have both come up. Both artists were influenced by the concept of "dynamic symmetry" and used it consistently in their work. Jay Hambidge wrote the most famous treatise about it in 1919, but it goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks and the whole concept of the ideal form or composition is most definitely wrapped up in it. It gets kind of complicated, but it is an almost mathematical approach to creating an ideal image based on proportions like the golden section and the root rectangles. I won't bore you with the details-- just something to look for in their work. Lyendecker was certainly striving for that ideal...

Here's a diagram from an old book on composition:

Here's a quick and sloppy example from Parrish:

Now for something more on topic:

There were tons of amazing illustrators from this time period. Another great one to check out is Andrew Loomis. He also wrote some excellent books about illustration.

If you want to see work by a living artist who still uses these principles, google R. Kenton Nelson .

Dang! Sorry for rambling. Can you tell I'm an art teacher?

--G.R.

 

[scotrace]

I absolutely LOVE what I've seen by the two artists you've named! Looking for more - thanks!!