J.C. Leyendecker: American Imagist [Hardcover]

Laurence S. Cutler (Author), Judy Goffman Cutler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2008

One of the most prolific and successful artists of the Golden Age of American Illustration, J. C. Leyendecker captivated audiences throughout the first half of the 20th century. Leyendecker is best known for his creation of the archetype of the fashionable American male with his advertisements for Arrow Collar. These images sold to an eager public the idea of a glamorous lifestyle, the bedrock upon which modern advertising was built. He also was the creator instantly recognizable icons, such as the New Year’s baby and Santa Claus, that are to this day an integral part of the lexicon of Americana and was commissioned to paint more Saturday Evening Post covers than any other artist.

 

Leyendecker lived for most of his adult life with Charles Beach, the Arrow Collar Man, on whom the stylish men in his artwork were modeled.

 

The first book about the artist in more than 30 years, J. C. Leyendecker features his masterworks, rare paintings, studies, and other artwork, including the 322 covers he did for the Post. With a revealing text that delves into both his artistic evolution and personal life, J. C. Leyendecker restores this iconic image maker’s rightful position in the pantheon of great American artists.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laurence S. Cutler is an architect, author, and the chairman and co-founder of the National Museum of American Illustration.  Judy Goffman Cutler is an art dealer, author, owner of the American Illustrators Gallery in New York, and a co-founder of the National Museum of American Illustration. The Cutlers live in Newport, Rhode Island.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Abrams; 1 edition (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810995212
• ISBN-13: 978-0810995215
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 1 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Arts & Photography > Graphic Design > Commercial > Advertising

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 89 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy for the pictures, not the text. November 30, 2008

By the Bibliophiliac

Format:Hardcover

Like many other reviewers, I have been waiting for a book like this for years. And, like them, I am both thrilled and disappointed. While this is one of the most comprehensive collections of Leyendecker illustrations ever to see print, and worth the price of the book alone, the text is severely wanting. The book is full of errors, both minor and major, and has an antagonistic tone to boot.

An example of the former is the claim that the actor Neil Hamilton, "appeared AS `Tarzan the Ape Man' (1934)." This, of course, should read that he appeared IN "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932). ("Tarzan and His Mate," in which Hamilton also appeared, again not as Tarzan, was released in `34).

Examples of the later would be any mention of other illustrators, about whom they usually have some snarky comment to make. A particular amount of vitriol is spewed on to Norman Rockwell, whom they portray as the most contemptible of human beings.

This is frankly a disturbing trend in a lot of books. (witness the James Bama book "American Realist" and "Excess- the art of Michael Golden" for other examples) It seems that it is no longer enough to present an artist works and plead his case, but one must also denigrate and dismiss that artist contemporaries and rivals. If one wishes to bash artist such as Cole Phillips and Rockwell, and Leyendecker's brother and sister too boot, there are plenty of other places to do so. Is it really necessary to do such in a Leyendecker biography?

Also be aware that the authors lay much of the 20th centuries iconography at Leyendecker's feet. They exaggeratingly claim that J.C. is responsible for everything from giving flowers to mom on mother day, playing football on Thanksgiving, inspiring the novel "the Great Gatsby," and much more. It's one thing to laud your heroes accomplishments, quite another to exaggerate them.

By all means, buy the book. But do so for the pretty pictures, not the text.

102 of 109 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars HILARIOUSLY INACCURATE November 2, 2008

By iorek

Format:Hardcover

Any new book about Leyendecker is a welcome event. This volume is an ambitious effort with many excellent images. Try to focus on the pictures and avert your eyes from the text, which is hilariously inaccurate.

As just one example, the authors write: "After Leyendecker's precedent-setting career, Charles Livingston Bull, John Clymer, Steven Dohanos, John Falter, Anton Otto Fisher, Harrison Fisher, James Montgomery Flagg, Charles Dana Gibson, J.F. Kernan, Frederic Remington, Robert Riggs, N.C. Wyeth, and other famous artists went on to make their names with the Post." It's hard to imagine how a sentence could be more wrong. Several of the listed artists (Remington, Gibson, Fisher, Wyeth) "made their name" BEFORE Leyendecker made his, and were in fact dead before the end of Leyendecker's "precedent-setting career." Other artists on their list (Bull and Flagg) were Leyendecker's contemporaries, NOT his successors. Flagg was far more famous in their lifetime than Leyendecker. But most importantly, it's hard to think of more than two (or at most, three) from this list of illustrators who actually "made their names with the Post." Some did not work for the Post at all.

Such errors are common in this book-- apparently, the authors feel free to simply make such things up (although based on the number of rave reviews the book is receiving, most readers don't know enough about the subject to tell the difference.)

Putting factual errors aside, the authors would've had room for more (and larger) images if they had been willing to let go of a few pet fixations, such as Leyendecker's gay relationship with model Charles Beach. It is certainly appropriate for the authors to note that the famed Arrow man "was not only a homosexual but a kept man, the live-in lover of the famed artist who thrust himself into such an exalted status," but 200 pages later their focus on "thrusting" continues unabated. We are still reading that "Charles Beach and Joe Leyendecker are held up as examples of monogamy among the gay community, so often criticized for promiscuity," or that "Charles' Dorian Gray image never [ages] in Joe's eyes nor in ours either" or that "members of the gay community [remember Leyendecker] for icons of masculinity and sensitivity." After a while, these musings become presumptuous and insulting to the gay community.

Finally, on a personal note, I believe that a biographer has an obligation to avoid using his or her subject as a platform for self-aggrandizement. It is amazing how many of the "milestones" of Leyendecker's life took place long after his death, and coincidentally are centered around the authors' own gallery shows and sales of Leyendecker's work, or around their promotion of the term "imagist" to describe his work, or around public relations for their illustration museum. The art of public relations is very different from the art of painting, and this would have been a better book if the authors had the restraint to keep the two separate.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful collection of Leyendecker artwork ... BUT ... September 23, 2008

By B. Davis

Format:Hardcover

This is a wonderful collection of J.C.Leyendecker's artwork and a must own for illustrators and lovers of Leyendecker's art. It's quite worth the asking price. My only complaint about the artwork shown, is that so much of the Saturday Evening Post covers are just too small to appreciate like they should be, however, that's understandable as if they were four per page, then that would be one huge book.

But the real reason I have a disappointement with the book is in the writing. That's why I didn't give it the full five stars the artwork alone deserves. If the authors could have only left their personal beliefs about Leyendecker's life out of the writing and focused on the historical facts. (To the author's, while I'm sure you believe that the "facts" you presented are facts to you, because you believe them, that simply doesn't make them facts to everyone else, whether you think it should be or not.) It's a shame when authors writing biographies place their own interpretations of another person's life down as fact. And that's what more or less detracts from the whole experience of the book.

Other than that, kudos to well put together archive of Leyendecker artwork.