Happy July 4th!

8 Comments

1. 

   Richard Budig on July 4, 2024 at 9:24 am

   Arnie . . . I have a Leyendecker question for which no one seems to have an answer . . . why did he use so many times a nearly white, abstract background, or a very light background. Also, why did he “outline” in a dark value so many of the figures in his work. Thanks for the post and the great Leyendecker work.

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     Arnie Fenner on July 5, 2024 at 6:49 am

     It’s only guesswork on my part, but the light or white backgrounds may have been at the direction of clients, like “The Saturday Evening Post,” so that the figures & situations would pop. Backgrounds varied for other assignments—remember the black backgrounds for many of the Kuppenheimer ads—or could be completely rendered scenes (thinking of his painting of Anthony & Cleopatra as an example). I suspect that the abstract brushstrokes for pale backgrounds, like the darker figure outlines, were his style and design decisions at the time. Whatever the reason, they’re definitely memorable!

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       Richard Budig on July 5, 2024 at 10:16 am

       Thanks Arnie . . . after years of wondering, and asking, someone comes up with a plausible answer. Good show. Thanks

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2. 

   philip el rassi on July 16, 2024 at 7:35 pm

   The legendary Leyendecker.

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3. 

   Craig Zuckerman on July 19, 2024 at 11:08 am

   I have a Leyendecker, question, have not found the answer anywhere: A big fan of his work for over three decades, why does he create shadows, separated brush strokes, instead of a flat color, chooses to use parallel brush strokes, allowing spaces in between of a lighter color? I love the look, and it works, but I can’t help but feel that, as a professional illustrator, if I were to do that, the modern day art director would ask me to ” fill in those gaps”, it seems that the great illustrators of our time , especially, “the Golden Age”, they did what they want, and it always worked!-Thank you, Craig Zuckerman

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