Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Entertainment

"Classic American" is the best all encompassing description of Joseph Christian Leyendecker's art. Although he was born in Germany and he trained in Paris, Leyendecker captured the American spirit in his countless illustrations.

Just a few blocks from campus at the Fullerton Museum, "J.C. Leyendecker: America's 'Other' Illustrator," is an exhibit featuring this artist's work. Leyendecker's work is important because although he did not create "art for art's sake," his illustrations give a description of American culture from the early twentieth century.

Like his peer, Norman Rockwell, Leyendecker's illustrations were used as covers to publications, advertisements and various war posters.

If one were to view Leyendecker's art, it'd feel familiar. You'd probably think it was a
Norman Rockwell. His art is patriotic, it was often propaganda, and it was meant to drive capitalism. More than anything, his art was accessible. Families of the 1920s and 1940s didn't have to drive to a museum to see his illustrations; they saw it in everyday uses such as magazine covers or in advertisements.

In his career, Leyendecker created 47 covers for "Collier's," and 322 covers for the
"Saturday Evening Post."

The illustrations range in subject matter, but the people are more or less the same. They are the early 1900s depiction of old-fashioned Americans. Not the ethnically diverse Americans, but the rosy-cheeked blond-haired type of people.

His art evokes visions of a nuclear family with a white picket fence and dog and BBQs out in the backyard. Although his art does not represent American society today and the people who make-up our diverse nation today, his art helped define the pop-culture of a generation.

His art is simple, yet so inviting. The illustrations focus on the main subjects which are also pushed forward; there is no background landscape. Leynedecker's art is not abstract or blurry like impressionism, but he does not hide his brushstrokes and the subjects often look very animated.

One of the illustrations features a little blond boy reciting a speech for a teacher. The boy is confident as he speaks and raises his arm to show his courage. The classic teacher type sits in the background. She has brown hair pulled up, glasses, an angular face and checks her student's speech in a book, and an apple sits beside her on the desk.

In a different cover, another little blond boy carrying groceries, including a dead turkey, is harassed on his way home by a handful of dogs. The boy screams out while the dogs bark at him from below and one of them successfully bites the neck of the turkey.

Leyendecker's advertisements are just as interesting. His illustrations for certain apparel companies helped create a popular image for fashion savvy men. The men in his art are strong, healthy looking, powerfully built and have chiseled features. They wear the Humphrey Bogart, long, tan trench coat with matching hat, fitted suits and shined shoes. Their hair is oiled and slicked back and their cheeks have just the right amount of pink.

Leyendecker created art during both World War I and II. His illustrations capture the American unity of the time and their desire to win the war. Aside from magazine covers, Leyendecker joined the war effort and painted posters for war bonds and through his illustrations, tried to convince the public to join with the government in support of the war. One poster features the Major General Chennault of WWII; a gruff, proud man with wrinkles aging his face. He stands strong in the traditional olive-green heavily-decorated military uniform. A silhouetted plane flies behind Chennault in an orange-red sky.

Probably the most touching illustration in the exhibit is the one illuminating the hardships of European refuges before the end of World War I. Leyendecker paints a woman with focused, lit eyes looking intently forward as she pulls a cart full of what's left of her life. She wears a brown skirt and wooden shoes, while her hair is swept out of her face with a red handkerchief. Her little boy sits in the cart with their possessions. He holds on to a birdcage and basket. A dog walks beside her as she pulls the heavy weight and a lantern dangles from the bottom of the cart to light her way during the night.

This painting is different from the other works because it demonstrates the tragedy of war and its innocent victims. However, this illustration also portrays America's other image as the land of the free, the Ellis Island America.

There are too many great illustrations in the exhibit to describe and to see one of these covers in person is so different than in a history book. As a man in his mid-twenties said at the exhibit, "You loose so much in print."

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