J.C. Leyendecker

"J. C. Leyendecker captured lifestyles with superior technical skills, with an imaginative use of subject, and with an originality that many have sought to imitate. Dubbed the "Master of the Magazine Cover" by Norman Rockwell - who modeled both his technique and his career on his mentor - Leyendecker created illustrations that graced the covers of all the leading magazines, including Collier's, The Century, and Scribner's. His 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post - more than any other artist - were so significant that they changed the way the nation looked at the world, introducing the concept of the New Year's Baby, Mother's Day flowers, and the pairing of football with Thanksgiving, among other seminal ideas." "His work in advertising was equally influential, as he created sustained campaigns for products that ranged from high-fashion menswear to Ivory Soap and Kellogg's Corn Flakes. But he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the Arrow Collar Man, the first male sex symbol and the first advertising star of either gender." "More than 600 original paintings, photographs, advertisements, and magazine covers, including all 322 for the Saturday Evening Post, testify to the brilliance and importance of this powerful, iconic image maker. The revealing text delves into both his artistic and his personal evolution, uncovering much new material and setting the record straight on many of the questions that had clouded Leyendecker's history until this day. Together the art and text of J.C. Leyendecker restore this groundbreaking artist's rightful position in the pantheon of great American imagists."--Jacket.