GLR September-October 2023

ESSAY

Leyendecker the Sly I GNACIO D ARNAUDE

J. C. LEYENDECKER (1874 – 1951) was an artist of many firsts. With his illustrations for TheSat urday Evening Post , he can be said to have in vented what the modern magazine cover should look like. He was one of the first popular artists to achieve a kind of greatness, and, as the most widely seen image-maker of his era, he defined the look of the fashionable American male during the first few decades of the 20th century. As a gay man himself, he did all this while intro ducing a subtly homoerotic subtext into many of his drawings, thereby prying open a crack in the closet door of his era. In spite of his extraordinary achievements, his name nearly vanished after he died in 1951. Seven decades later, an exhibi tion at the New-York Historical Society titled Under Cover: J. C. Leyendecker and American Masculinity [reviewed here in the May-June 2023 issue] turned a spotlight on his work when it opened last May, providing a forum for conflicting viewpoints about Leyendecker ’ s art and life. Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Ger many, in 1874, and emigrated to Chicago with his family when he was eight years old. He showed a precocious talent for draw ing, studying at the famous Art Institute of Chicago when he was only fifteen. Such was his ability that his teachers encour aged him to study in Paris, which was the mecca for serious artists at this time. As luck would have it, his brother Frank (1876 – 1924) was also a talented artist — nearly as good but not as disciplined as Joseph. Together they traveled to Paris in 1896, where they enrolled in the prestigious Académie Julian, which was headed by the influential William-Adolphe Bouguereau. At this point in their lives, the two brothers were as thick as thieves, but their lives were destined to diverge. The classical training that Joseph received in Paris strongly shaped his approach to art. His teachers, who looked down on “ commercial ” artists, made him copy the Old Masters. However, as soon as he hit the Paris boulevards, he found himself sur rounded by the publicity posters of artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha, whom he admired and befriended. These artists believed in a revolutionary idea that challenged the art es tablishment: Great art could be produced for visionary compa nies that manufacture products for the masses. Inspired by this manifesto, Leyendecker won a contest for the cover of the mag azine The Century with an image clearly influenced by Mucha. The cover was so popular that it was sold as a poster, something unheard of at the time. The realization that he could make money and get famous by creating art for the masses, not just for wealthy patrons, stirred his imagination. This trend had yet to reach the Ignacio Darnaude is an art scholar, lecturer, and film producer. He is currently developing the docuseries Hiding in Plain Sight: Breaking the Queer Code in Art .

U.S., and he saw an opportunity back home, so he and his brother Frank returned to Chicago and opened a studio. J. C. Leyendecker became a full-time illustrator, creating images for advertising that fulfilled the radical ideal that he ’ d learned in Paris: “ My illustrations introduce art into the details of everyday life, refining and improving them, ” he declared. It wasn ’ t long before he created his first cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post , in 1899. His innovative contract al lowed the Post only a one-time use of a given illustration, with rights returning to the artist after publication. It was an arrange ment that he insisted upon for his whole career. Leyendecker understood that, just as an advertisement has only a split second to catch a potential buyer ’ s interest, a maga zine cover had to communicate an idea instantly, without ex planatory text. He achieved both goals with a unique style that was immediately recognizable. Previously male fashion ads were static, its models looking like cut-out dolls. He created a technique for advertising with exaggerated brushstrokes and vi brant colors that grabbed the viewer ’ s interest with their lifelike,

Does he or doesn ’ t he? Ivory Soap ad from 1899.

TheG & LR

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