Joseph Christian Leyendecker: 225 Golden Age Illustrations - Annotated Series - J.C. Leyendecker

JOSEPH CHRISTIAN "J.C." LEYENDECKER Art Book contains 225 Masterworks of celebrated magazine covers for The Saturday Evening Post, The Century Magazine, Collier's Weekly, Success Magazine and Scribners. Leyendecker's advertising illustrations for Arrow Collar and Kuppenheimer, Kellogg's and Ivory Soap, Interwoven Socks and many more with annotations and Leyendecker biography. Book includes Table of Contents, Top 50 Museums of the World, and is compatible with all Kindle devices, Kindle for iOS and Android tablets (use rotate and/or zoom feature on landscape/horizontal images for optimal viewing).

Joseph Christian “J.C.” Leyendecker, (known to his friends and family as “Joe”), was born in Montbour, Germany, on March 23, 1874. He was the first of three children of Dutch parents, Peter and Elizabeth Leyendecker. His brother, Frances Xavier, also an illustrator, was born three years later. In 1882 the family moved to America, where his sister Augusta was born. The family settled in Chicago, where they joined J.C.’s mother’s uncle in his successful brewery.
J.C.’s talent was evident even at eight years old, as he enthusiastically drew and painted. No blank surface was safe; he drew on oilcloth from his mother’s kitchen and in his schoolbooks. His family was supportive of his art, and saved what they could from their modest income toward a formal artistic education. But this wasn’t enough, and so at sixteen he found an apprenticeship with J. Manz and Co. Engraving House of Chicago. At first this was work without pay, but it did give him a chance to begin to learn, between his errands and other tasks, the art business. He spent any free time he could with the artists, carefully observing and drawing.
After six months, his employers were impressed enough to offer him his own desk in the artist room, for a salary of two dollars a week. With this income, he was able to enroll at the Chicago Art Institute with John H. Vanderpoel, with whom he studied for the next five years. Vanderpoel’s “The Human Figure” is a book still considered today one of the most significant books on life drawing. It was during his five-year study with Vanderpoel that Leyendecker developed and refined his precise style undergirded with the classic fundamentals of drawing and composition. (con't)