Some of you might remember the J. C. Leyendecker exhibit at the New York Historical Museum a few years back (if not I wrote a review with lots of pics here) and during that exhibit there was a screening of a new Leyendecker documentary and a panel moderated by fabulous illustrator and MC contributor Marcos Chin. The documentary is called Coded: The Hidden Love of J. C. Leyendecker and at the time I don’t think you could see it online, I tried, but now you can. Oddly enough, you can also catch it on domestic Delta flights currently.
You can see the trailer here:
It’s a short film (29min) and it was shortlisted for an Oscar. I definitely learned some things in the video I hadn’t known before, and while I knew Rockwell took over Leyendecker’s favored artist role at The Saturday Evening Post, I didn’t realize the whole story of how that torch got passed. Though the documentary is short, it’s got a lot of context and historical knowledge. Definitely worth jumping thru free trial hoops for, or even paying a month’s membership fee to stream.
It’s exclusively on Paramount Plus, but there’s a free 7 day trial you can access thru their site or thru Paramount Plus on Amazon.
If you’ve already used your Paramount trial up and don’t want to pay for a month, there’s also a documentary done by YouTuber and graphic novel author & artist Kaz Rowe that covers a lot of the same material:
Actually, it’s worth watching both. Coded has more archival material, but Rowe’s documentary is twice as long and she does a pretty decent deep dive. Though I certainly don’t think of Leyendecker as a “forgotten artist” — he certainly isn’t forgotten in Illustration circles — but it’s true he doesn’t have nearly the name recognition outside Illustration as his protegee Norman Rockwell does. If you like this video, I suggest a few more of Rowe’s illustration-specific videos on Caravaggio, Gibson Girls, and Children’s Book Illustrators.
Enjoy!
Thanks for bringing this material to our attention. I actually get Paramount Plus, but if they have publicized this, its managed to escape me. Looking forward to viewing it, and checking out the Rowe videos, which I was also unaware of.
I was watching for Coded to hit the internet and I missed it too! Glad it’s watchable now. Rowe’s videos are more casual and definitely from a Queer History priority, but they’re incredibly well researched!
Thanks for bringing this material to our attention.
Thanks for sharing this! Leyendecker’s work has always fascinated me, and I’m so glad more people are finally learning about the man behind those iconic illustrations. I watched Coded and found it incredibly moving — short but powerful. Kaz Rowe’s doc added even more depth. Totally agree that both are worth watching.
Just watched Coded on a Delta flight and was genuinely moved — short but powerful, and it really filled in some personal context I never knew about Leyendecker. The archival footage and interviews add so much. Also had no idea about the dynamic between him and Rockwell. Appreciate the heads up on the Kaz Rowe doc too — going to check that out next. It’s wild how someone so influential still flies under the radar outside illustration circles.
Kaz Rowe is how I learned about Leyendecker, so I’ll have to check out this other short film! BTW, Kaz’s pronouns are they/them 🙂