Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951). Diving In, The Saturday Evening Post cover, June 8, 1935. Oil on can...

Description

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951)
Diving In, The Saturday Evening Post cover, June 8, 1935
Oil on canvas
31 x 24 inches (78.7 x 61.0 cm)
Signed lower right: JCLeyendecker

Property from the Michael Dolas Family Collection

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Michael Dolas, acquired from the above;
By descent to the present owners.

EXHIBITED:
National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, Rhode Island, n.d;
Haggin Museum, Stockton, California, "Michael Dolas: Capturing the Character of His Country," January 17-February 24, 2019.

LITERATURE:
L.S. Cutler, J.G. Cutler, J.C. Leyendecker, American Imagist, New York, 2008, p. 158, illustrated.

Few artists have captured the rhythms and rituals of American life with as much elegance and wit as Joseph Christian Leyendecker. A virtuoso draftsman and gifted storyteller, Leyendecker significantly shaped the visual language of early twentieth-century American illustration, most notably through his iconic covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Diving In-a quintessential summer image executed in oil for the Post-is a compelling demonstration of Leyendecker's unique synthesis of dynamic visual storytelling, refined humor, and technical mastery.

In Diving In, Leyendecker distills a fleeting moment of youthful exuberance into a scene of almost balletic grace. The artist orchestrates a complex interplay of movement and form: three children plunge into the water, their intertwined limbs creating a kinetic symphony of arcs and angles. The central figure, humorously pinching his nose mid-leap, serves as an engaging narrative anchor, while the elegantly foreshortened figures and repeated visual motifs underscore Leyendecker's extraordinary command of anatomy and compositional design.

Rendered in his signature technique-characterized by crisp contours, sleek modeling, and distinctive short, hatched brushwork suggesting both illumination and volume-the composition achieves an idealized immediacy. Leyendecker's stylized concentric ripples further enhance the painting's decorative appeal, subtly invoking the rhythmic precision and ornamental geometry characteristic of the Art Deco movement.

Further elevating this work is its distinguished provenance. Diving In comes directly from the personal collection of the esteemed illustrator Michael Dolas (1912-2010), a prominent contemporary of Leyendecker. Dolas, whose illustrations graced covers and pages of national magazines and accompanied texts by literary icons such as Ernest Hemingway, deeply admired Leyendecker and developed a personal rapport with him. Dolas acquired several of Leyendecker's original Saturday Evening Post cover paintings directly from the artist-including Diving In and Interrupted Picnic (lot 67024). According to family recollections, Diving In occupied a place of particular affection within Dolas' collection, as its sophisticated rendering and dynamic complexity represented Leyendecker operating at the pinnacle of his artistic powers.


More information about Joseph Christian Leyendecker. See also: Leyendecker, Joseph Christian Artist.



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