Figure Study for a Kuppenheimer Advertisement
Date1929
Artist
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
(American painter and illustrator, 1874–1951)
Illustration CitationDouble-page Kuppenheimer advertisement, The Saturday Evening Post, April 20, 1929
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions22 × 9 1/4 in. (55.9 × 23.5 cm)
frame: 27 3/4 × 15 in. (70.5 × 38.1 cm)
frame: 27 3/4 × 15 in. (70.5 × 38.1 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2016
Object number2016-38
On View
On viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextJoseph Christian Leyendecker began to design menswear advertisements for Kuppenheimer in the 1910s. His preparation involved several sketches. He selected the one best suited to a composition that would “tell the story most clearly and has an interesting design.” Then he enlarged the selected one by squares (this is the grid seen here).Leyedecker arrived in Chicago with his German family in 1882. He used his earnings as an apprentice in an engraving firm to study art in Chicago and Paris. He produced over 300 covers for the Saturday Evening Post and many advertising illustrations, mainly for clothing manufacturers and stores. According to one critic, he crystallized "the refined American male look of the first 30 years of the 20th century."
Joseph Christian Leyendecker
c. 1897
