One of the most prolific illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration (1880’s to 1920’s) was a German born artist named Joseph Christian Leyendecker. The talented man illustrated more than four hundred magazine covers from 1896 to 1950. Joseph Christian Leyendecker illustrated for publications, magazine covers, men’s fashion, and advertisements for automobiles, soap, and Kellog’s cereal. His distinct style and productivity served as inspiration for future illustrators, including his friend Norman Rockwell.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Germany in 1874. His parents helped nourish his artistic endeavors by encouraging him to draw on available surfaces. When he was eight years old, J.C. Leyendecker and his younger brother Frank Xavier Leyendecker moved to Chicago. At the young age of sixteen, J.C. Leyendecker became an apprentice at the engraving firm J. Manz and Company. There, his job was to create posters and designs for Manz clients. Working for J. Manz, Leyendecker illustrated works for books, including the novel Dolly Dialogues by Anthony Hope Hawkins. During this apprenticeship,when he was 19 , Leyendecker created his first major commission: a set of 60 illustrations for an edition of the Bible. In Chicago J.C. Leyendecker and his brother also went to study at The Chicago Institute of Art. There, he studied under John H. Vanderpool- who brought classical techniques over from France. Vanderpool’s instruction helped develop the brothers’ skill for drawing believable nude and clothed figures.
In 1896, J.C. Leyendecker drew attention by winning a cover design competition for Century Magazine. Even though he was a fresh illustrator at the time, Leyendecker beat Maxfield Parrish. The illustration was f...
... middle of paper ...
... dwindled, he remains a monument in illustration history. His work spanned over several decades and helped set up influence for modern day artwork. Leyendecker and his brother established iconic images such as the New Years baby, The Arrow Man, and American culture. His relationship with Charles Beach set up standards for American male beauty, and the romantic and homoerotic elements in men’s fashion advertising. J.C. Leyendecker’s legacy extended far beyond his death in 1951.
Sources
(1) http://www.americanartarchives.com/leyendeceker,fx.htm
(2) http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/leyendec.htm
(3) http://www.glbtq.com/arts/leyendecker_jc.html
(4) http://www.hagginmuseum.org/leyendecker/biography.shtml
(5) J. C. Leyendecker. Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler. November 2008. Abrams.
(6) J.C. Leyendecker. Michael Schau. 1974. Watson-Guptill Publications/New York.
Ernie Barnes was and still is one of the most popular and well-respected black artists today. Born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, in 1938, during the time the south as segregated, Ernie Barnes was not expected to become a famous artist. However, as a young boy, Barnes would, “often [accompany] his mother to the home of the prominent attorney, Frank Fuller, Jr., where she worked as a [housekeeper]” (Artist Vitae, The Company of Art, 1999). Fuller was able to spark Barnes’ interest in art when he was only seven years old. Fuller told him about the various schools of art, his favorite painters, and the museums he visited (Barnes, 1995, p. 7). Fuller further introduced Barnes to the works of such artists as, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Correggio, which later influenced Barnes’ mannerist style of painting.
Jacob was an African-American artist, who eventually flourished in the art world during the Depression of 1920s, painting African-Americans life in Harlem, making social statements and thus, explaining their life during that time. Additionally, this made his art significant to spectators who praised his works. With no formal training in painting, it was easy for Jacob to ignore the rules that set him apart from other African-American painters and others, before him and in his time, such as Palmer C. Hayden, and Archibald Motely, Jr to whom he was compared. Jacob Lawrence artwork communicated historical data and his perspective of people he was familiar with in his culture. His work expressed how African- Americans struggled for health and social justice, how they were ignored by the Republican administrations, racial equality and eventually, why African-American voters would shift to the Democratic Party.
Pette, Jack, and Roger Hensley. "19th Century Trains ." Angel Fire . Art Today , 2001. Web. 28 Feb.
Carle had a happy childhood in America. However, he moved to Germany with his parents when he was six years old and attended the prestigious art school Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In 1952 he moved back to New York to return to the happy place where he grew up. He was then recruited as a graphic designer by The New York Times before he was enrolled as a mail clerk in the Korean War. Once he returned, he worked as the art director for an advertising agency (“Eric Carle”).
Jacob Lawrence is celebrated for his insightful depictions of American and, in particular, African American life. Best known for his epic series of paintings on such subjects as the lives of Harriet Tubman and Toussaint L'Ouverture, he has also created numerous prints, murals, and drawings. Among the latter are a delightful set of twenty-three illustrations...
Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.
Increase Mather, a Boston Congregational minister, author and educator, was a determined figure in the councils of New England during crucial periods, in particular to the Salem Witchcraft. In 1683, when he was still in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he refused to compromise full obedience to the English Monarchy, where he stated that the absolute obedience should only obtain for the God. Such courageous action of him prompts the understanding of his clerical puritan ideologies, believing there is only the god and “us” in the world with no middle boundary. It is clear that he was not only an advocate of religion, but significantly, one for puritanism as the portrait of him explicitly shows in his appeal. In addition, connecting to the Salem Witchcraft being a minister, although Increase did believe in witches as most of the people at that time did, he actually suspected a lot that “evidence could be faulty and justice might miscarry”. He distrusted the case of “spectre evidence” because “ a witch could assume the form of an innocent person”. When such mistaken evidence was eventually thrown out of court with the Mathers’ and other ministers’ insistence, the whole affair came to an end.
A turning point in Rockwell’s career occurred one year later when he sold five cover illustrations to George Lorimer, editor of the “Saturday Evening Post”. For the next four decades, Rockwell’s name would be synonymous with the “Post”. During that time he produced 322 covers for the magazine.
The Illustrator in America, 1880-1980: A Century of Illustration. New York: Published for the Society of Illustrators by Madison Square Press, 1984. 7.
"1920's Art." The 1920's - Roaring Twenties - The Nineteen Twenties in History. 2005. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. .
The Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in Fathers and Sons in 1862, "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound” (Turgenev 196). Mark Twain was a living testament to that belief because iillustrations were an integral part of Mark Twain’s published work. They embellished his stories, informed the reader, and often reflected his humor. However, today’s fictional novels rarely include illustrations beyond the cover and fly leaf. This lack of illustrations has become more the norm in the digital publishing world because the illustrations often do not translate well to the digital format. My research paper will delineate the reasons that illustrations were relevant and necessary for the 19th century publication and why they are less relevant in the digital age. I will show that illustrations played an essential part in the success of Mark Twain’s books (1) because he made them an integral part of his writing, giving clarity to his written words; (2) because of the subscription publishing model of his era, and, (3) because of Twain’s dependence on them to describe his characters. However, the digital and audio publishing market of today has lessened the impact of illustrations in modern literary works. In Twain’s 19th century era, books were often a work of art as well as a literary treasure. The books I read today on my e-reader or listen to on “Audible” versions -- even Twain’s books -- almost never have a visual impact like Twain’s books had in the 19th century.
In particular, one of the leading artists from this movement was a man named Egon Schiele. Schiele lived during and died just before the end of World War 2. His figures had a blemished, twisted quality to their proportions and in particularly how he utilized lines to define the contours and appearance of his subjects.
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. N.p., 2014. Print.
Thomas Hart Benton was born in the familiar, small town of Neosho, Missouri. He was named after his granduncle, the famed and prominent pre-American Civil War senator. First Thomas Hart Benton studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and then lived in beautiful Paris for three years. When he came back he moved to New York City after 1912 he turned away from his usual style, modernism, and gradually developed a rugged naturalism that affirmed traditional rural values. By the 1930’s Benton was riding a tide of popular acclaim along with his fellow regionalist Grant Wood, who was responsible for American Gothic, and John Steuart Curry, who was responsible for The Tragic Prelude. The mural, America Today (1930-1931, The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S., New York City), Thomas Hart Benton’s masterpiece, presented an optimistic portrayal of a vital country filled with earthy, muscular figures.
Thomas Cole was born on February 1, 1801 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. Due to financial problems his family endured, Cole, at the ripe old age of just fourteen, had to find work to assist with the family needs. He entered the work force as a textile printer and wood engraver in Philadelphia. In 1819, Cole returned to Ohio where his parents resided. Here, a portrait painter by the name of Stein, would become Cole’s primary teaching vehicle and inspiration for his oil techniques we’ve come to be familiar with. During this time, Cole was extremely impressed by what he saw in the landscapes of the New World and how different they were from the small town of England from whence he hailed. Self taught, art came naturally to Cole.