Number 19 on my Queer Icons Pride Project is Artist J.C. Leyendecker Born in 1874, German-American illustrator J. C. Leyendecker has been referred to as the Norman Rockwell before Norman Rockwell. In 1882 the Leyendecker family immigrated to Chicago where J.C. eventually attended Chicago Art Institute. He studied drawing and anatomy under John Vanderpoel's lead. After a short time Leyendecker and his brother made their way across the seas to attend the Julien Acadamy in Paris for a year where he was exposed to Alphonse Mucha a leader in the French Art Nouveau movement. Between the years 1896 and 1950, he painted more than 400 magazine covers. During the Golden Age of American Illustration, for The Saturday Evening Post alone, he produced 322 covers, and many advertisement illustrations for its interior pages. Leyendecker's private life has been up for discussion but it has been generally accepted that he was a homosexual. Leyendecker excelled at depicting male homosocial spaces (locker rooms, clubhouses, tailoring shops) and extraordinarily handsome young men in curious poses or exchanging glances. Leyendecker never married, and he lived with another man, Charles Beach, for much of his adult life. Beach was the original model for the famous Arrow Collar Man and is assumed to have been his lover. J.C. Leyendecker inspires me by his work, it's not only stunning, but fun and playful while also be distinct and precise. I personally love his musical jester for The Saturday Evening Post, the position of the figure mixed with the rich colors displays Leyendecker's artistic illustrative mastery. @jcleyendeckerart #jcleyendecker #artist #pride2022 #prideproject #loveislove #strength #queerartist #gayillustration #drawing #sketch #sketchbook #figuredrawing #instaart #illustration #redsketch #prismacolor #pride #rainbow (at Turlock, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce_S_o3L-yX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
