Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Study for 'Happy Landing' Amoco Ad
1945

Name: Study for 'Happy Landing' Amoco Ad
Brand: Joseph Christian Leyendecker
Price: 42000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Medium: Oil and Pencil on Canvas Signature: Unsigned During his over four decades as the preeminent illustrator for The Saturday Evening Post, Joseph Christian Leyendecker's clever illustrations were eagerly anticipated by enthusiastic readership across the country, and none more so than his holiday designs. One of Leyendecker's most celebrated creations was his groundbreaking idea of the New Year's Baby. Originally portrayed as a fleshy sweet-faced child complete with tiny angel wings, the New Year's Baby gradually morphed into a worldly tot acutely aware of the social and political issues facing the nation at the time. In fact, Leyendecker's final Post cover illustration was the 1943 New Year's Baby. Following the success of these Post covers, the artist was hired to create advertisements for the American Oil Company (AMOCO). Throughout the 1940s and through the final years of his life, Leyendecker produced ads incorporating his famed New Year's Baby into AMOCO advertisements, as in the present work, Happy Landing, published in 1945.

Creator:

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874 - 1951, American)

Creation Year:

1945

Dimensions:

Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 18.13 in (46.06 cm)

Medium:

Pencil,Oil,Canvas

Period:

1940-1949

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Fort Washington, PA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU38432072143

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Joseph Christian Leyendecker

Joseph Christian "J.C." Leyendecker was born in Germany in 1874. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1882. His eldest brother, Adolph, became a prominent stained glass artist, and Joe, as he was called, had an early artistic calling.

After studying at the Chicago Art Institute under John H. Vanderpoel, J.C. Leyendecker enrolled at the Académie Julien in 1896, where he studied for a year with his younger brother Frank in the Beaux-Arts tradition. During his time there, he was exposed to and influenced by the works of Art Nouveau painters and printmakers Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret and Alphonse Mucha, with whom he formed a strong friendship. The next year, he staged his first one-man exhibition at the Salon du Champ-de-Mars and made the auspicious acquaintance of Paul Gauguin.

In 1898, Leyendecker produced the first of 48 covers for Collier’s magazine. The next year, he painted his first cover for The Saturday Evening Post magazine, which was the beginning of a 44-year association with that esteemed publication. Throughout his career, he would also paint covers for Life magazine, illustrations for a library of books, and transform advertising for such companies as B. Kuppenheimer & Co. and Interwoven Socks. His work for Arrow Shirt is the most well-known and beloved.

Using his lover and manager, Charles Beach, as a model, Leyendecker created the ultimate image of modern American masculinity. His work for Kuppenheimer, also known as the House of Kuppenheimer, is just as iconic. Founded in 1876, the company became the manufacturer of uniforms for the United States Army during World War I. Thanks to Leyendecker's advertising, the firm became synonymous with the ultimate in male taste and desirability.

Unfortunately, near the end of his career, as Leyendecker’s associations with Collier’s and The Saturday Evening Post came to an end, his work fell into obscurity. When he died in 1951, his great friend Norman Rockwell, who commemorated their relationship in his painting Waiting for the Art Editor, served as one of his pallbearers.

Find original J.C. Leyendecker prints and paintings on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by M.S. Rau)