Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951). Ice Skaters, The Popular Magazine cover, March 1909. Oil on canvas. ...

Description

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951)
Ice Skaters, The Popular Magazine cover, March 1909
Oil on canvas
30 x 20 inches (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower right: JCLeyendecker

PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Gift to the daughter of the above, circa 1970;
By descent to the present owner.

LITERATURE:
L.S. Cutler and J.G. Cutler, J.C. Leyendecker, American Imagist, New York, 2008, p.186, illustrated.

Of the most prolific and sought after artists of the Golden Age of Illustration, J.C. Leyendecker captivated the public with his striking, fashionable depictions of handsome men and glamorous women. In contrast to Norman Rockwell, who sought to capture the simple moments of every-day Middle America, Leyendecker preferred a heroic, chiseled and highly refined look for his figures that were quite the opposite of the everyman that Rockwell portrayed. Painted in 1909, Ice Skaters, The Popular Magazine Cover encapsulates the artist's high-fashion, glamorous fantasy world that Leyendecker strove to achieve over the course of his vastly successful career.

Born in Montabaur, Germany, Leyendecker came to Chicago with his Catholic family at age eight. He apprenticed to a printer, J. Manz and Co., and then studied with John Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1896, he won the Century magazine cover competition, which essentially launched him professionally. Two years later, he went to Paris to the Academie Julian with his brother, Francis Xavier, and they learned the "hachure" method of drawing whereby blended shading was not allowed. It was a time when poster art was very popular, and when he returned to America, he applied these new methods to his work.

With a secret recipe combining oil and turpentine, he and his brother, Frank, perfected a crosshatch method of working in oil paint that gave the speed of pencil and the visual impact of color without the brush going dry.

Leyendecker did not use photographs but always employed models for his compositions. In contrast to Rockwell who focused on the personality of his subjects, Leyendecker painted figures that were symbolic of something, rather than human beings facing real-life situations. In the present work, an attractive, well-dressed couple is the focal point for the viewer. Up close on the picture plane, one cannot help but notice the fineries of the woman's hat, fur stole, dress, and hairstyle, as her dashing gentleman friend, equally attractive and well dressed, guides her delicately across the ice. The scene is skillfully rendered in rich greens, browns, and orange, applied with Leyendecker's hallmark cross-hatching technique. The result is a highly refined, wonderfully descriptive moment that men and woman alike would wish to emulate.

A prestigious Main-Line Philadelphia family presented the painting to their young daughter, a skater, approximately sixty years ago to celebrate her love of skating.

Although the present owner of Ice Skaters has moved locations several times, she kept the present work with her throughout her life, only to be offered today for the first time in nearly sixty years.


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



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