J.C. Leyendecker: American Imagist

by Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler

One of the most prolific and successful artists of the Golden Age of American Illustration, J. C. Leyendecker captivated audiences throughout the first half of the 20th century. Leyendecker is best known for his creation of the archetype of the fashionable American male with his advertisements for Arrow Collar. These images sold to an eager public the idea of a glamorous lifestyle, the bedrock upon which modern advertising was built. He also was the creator instantly recognizable icons, such as the New Year’s baby and Santa Claus, that are to this day an integral part of the lexicon of Americana and was commissioned to paint more Saturday Evening Post covers than any other artist. Leyendecker lived for most of his adult life with Charles Beach, the Arrow Collar Man, on whom the stylish men in his artwork were modeled. The first book about the artist in more than 30 years, J. C. Leyendecker features his masterworks, rare paintings, studies, and other artwork, including the 322 covers he did for the Post. With a revealing text that delves into both his artistic evolution and personal life, J. C. Leyendecker restores this iconic image maker’s rightful position in the pantheon of great American artists.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Queer, LGBT, Art History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2008

Reviews

[Aisyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered J.C Leyendecker when I stumbled upon this incredible art of my favorite Sergeant and his Captain.



Which was inspired by this painting made by Leyendecker in 1911 for Cluett Dress Shirt.



Thus began my obsession with his work, they are utterly gorgeous and I love them.







One of my favorite things about his art is that there would always be a token lady in the picture somewhere in order to downplay all the ~gayness~ going on because at that time being queer could get you thrown into prison, or worse. I love the fact that he's being true to himself in his craft while also appealing to the general public.









Fun fact: the dark-haired man prominently featured in many of Leyendecker's work is actually his real life partner, Charles Beach.



As an artist for men's fashion ads featured in the pages of newspapers and magazines during the 1910s to 1930s, Leyendecker worked for Arrow and other brands with Beach as his model.





Beach is clearly the perfect embodiment of a Ladies' Man, Man's Man, Man About Town in New York circa 1910.



See how everyone is attracted to that dude in the brown suit? That's the power of fashion, baby.





Their relationship actually lasted about 50 years, which is pretty damn amazing. Look, I'm not projecting here but these two being gay early in the century while living together in New York, one being an artist who illustrates stuff for newspapers and the other his enamored lover/model, and their relationship lasting that many years??? I can see where that fan artist got their inspiration from, just sayin'.

You know what they say, if the outfit shoe fits...





Now back to Leyendecker and his man...



So yes, if you're a fan of his work or just simply intrigued by it, definitely give this book a read because there are tons of his work/art posted in here with a little bit of background explaining some of its origins.



Also, give this article a read if you want to find out more about the man himself. Fascinating stuff!

[Toviel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most oversized artbooks, the point of buying J.C. LEYENDECKER is to ogle the gorgeous oil paintings within. To that extent, the Cutlers’ attempt to bring back an oft-forgotten American icon serves its purpose with gusto.

As an artist, Leyendecker’s portfolio is a peak example of Golden Age American illustration. The book does them justice with many detailed full-page and double-page spreads, along with similar high-quality reproductions of his brother’s and other contemporary artwork for the sake of comparison. Multiple versions of specific pieces are included in the collection to showcase the difference between the originals and the magazine covers that they were later printed on. The pictures are more-or-less arranged chronologically, starting with Leyendecker’s Parisian exploits, and winding into his more well-known Arrow Collar and Saturday Morning Post advertisements and covers.

The accompanying biography is adequate. It is split into two halves: one that focuses on Leyendecker’s personal life, and one that focuses on the art itself. Very little is known about Leyendecker’s personal life due to his penchant for privacy, so the Cutlers tend to draw from the accounts of the multitude of artists, actors, and writers whom Leyendecker brushed shoulders with during his prolific career. As these sources can be vibrant, to say the least, Cutlers’ Leyendecker into an idolized extreme. Everything from the creation of flapper fashion to the modern depiction of Santa Claus is credited to the artist, and his actual accomplishments are all presented as groundbreaking moments in history. The artist becomes more like his glossy paintings than a real-life human man.

That said, Cutler does an excellent job of dropping the reader into the decades long love affair between Leyendecker and his favorite model, Charles Beach. Even with scant details about their relationship—the only aspect that is known for certain is how it broke the Leyendecker household apart—the Cutlers draw attention to the homoerotic undertones of Leyendecker’s work and life without delving too far into unsubstantial conclusions. Neither man could be called perfect, but together they created a life and successful careers for themselves despite the social pressures put against them. While the Cutlers do go too far in other respects, such as villainizing Norman Rockwell for allegedly stealing Leyendecker’s fame, it is refreshing to see a biography that openly embraces the queer aspects of its subject matter.

On a minor note, someone in editing made the annoying decision to reproduce most of Leyendecker magazine covers in tiny 9x9 thumbnails, with only a handful blown up to full size. These covers make up the bulk of the artwork in the book, as they take up more than eighty pages in total. I understand the publisher’s desire to keep the book to a reasonable length, but the execution is regrettable.

[Randy Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly my favorite art book purchase ever! This is absolutely packed to the max with gorgeous paintings as well as a brief introduction to the golden age of illustration. I would recommend bumping this up the the top of anyone's list of books to buy.

[Kj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Image collection: 3.5
Text: 1

What a mixed bag. Or rather, what a terribly-constructed bag holding a mix of incredible art.

Presented as the first dedicated collection of J.C. Leyendecker's artwork and a celebration of his iconic creations like the New Year's Baby and The Arrow Collar Man—considered the first ever sex symbol, its model being Leyendecker's partner of almost 50 years, Charles Beach—this large format art book feels like 70% text, 30% art. Which would be okay, given how much of Leyendecker's illustrations, sketches, and paintings have been lost over the years, except for how dreadfully written and indecipherably organized the text is.

Curated, researched, and written by the husband and wife co-founders of the National Museum of American Illustrators, (and apparently mostly drafted a decade before its publishing, i.e. in the 1990s), it reads like the worst kind of biography and like history written by non-historians—which it is. Unchecked bias runs rampant, opinions are stated as facts, and emotional projection and assumptions are everywhere, but few are far between are any helpful insights about the what's and why's of Leyendecker's life and work. The text never takes a point of view towards its subject, switching tone with every anecdotal source it draws from—so Charles Beach is described as a controlling and greedy guard dog in chapters informed by those who did not like Leyendecker's and Beach's relationship, then described as a devoted partner in love, life, and work in chapters drawing from other voices; the pendulum swings back and forth on every aspect of Leyendecker's life, swayed by every new quote and completely lacking context or an interpretive stance by the authors. We get sentences and phrases like the following, which read like egregiously editorialized textbooks from the 1950s or even 1980s: "[she] devoted her life to their careers, dying a lonely spinster;" "[...] only foggy memories of the glory days hidden deep in his then alcohol-diminished mind;" and problematic efforts at praise like: "Charles Beach and Joe Leyendecker are held up as examples of monogamy among the gay community, so often criticized for promiscuity."

The reader expecting a helpful (but short) introduction followed by pages and pages of full page art will be disappointed to find only one section of uninterrupted visuals. The reader expecting long-form historical and artistic biography supported by images will be likewise disappointed by the incongruity and imbalance of it all. The high volume of poorly written biography and art history is structured only towards confusion, with chapters mentioning events and people as if already introduced that are only fleshed out and explained 50 pages later. Specific artworks and time periods are written about in detail but with the accompanying imagery nowhere to be found or buried halfway through the book with disconnected images sitting beside long passages of unrelated text. Each chapter, of which there are roughly 4.5, seem to be written in isolation of one another, with incongruous elements, repeated and conflicting information, and a general spirit of decontextualized info-dump. The images by J.C. Leyendecker (as well those by his brother FX Leyendecker, which are included) are STUNNING, but even their display is muddled, with some images appearing three or four times and others being squeezed into 1/9 of a page.

Did reading this book help me fall head over heels for the art of J.C. Leyendecker? Yes.
Did it make me want to seek out a well-written biography of Leyendecker (and of Beach, if such exists)? Yes.
Did it make me want to buy my own copy of this coffee table book? Absolutely not.

[Jan Polep · Rating 5 out of 5]

Norman Rockwell's magazine illustrations were funny, sentimental, par0dies of American life. Leyendecker's magazine illustrations, ads, and book illustrations are simply stunning peeks at life in the glamor lane...but often with an influential twist like Rockwell's. You have got to see this book.

[Leo Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's just a beautiful piece. With many incredible paintings by the master, studies and also a bit of story behind of him.

[Josh Lange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes:
Born in Germany, moved to Chicago and then settled in New England to work on advertisements and magazines in New York. Secretly homosexual and added suggestiveness in many of his works. Famous for painting repeated themes of privileged people during the Roaring 20s. The fashionable, elegant men and women he would paint in a style later coined the "Leyendecker Look." Later he would paint minorities and children, using his powerful position at the cover illustrator of the Saturday Evening Post to introduce the concept of the "New Year's Baby" and tying flowers to the new Mother's Day holiday, as well as putting the turkey and football as the predominant symbols of Thanksgiving, as well as popularizing the now standard design for Santa Claus. He would also provide plenty of pro-war, nationalist, and medieval fantasy pieces.

Was idolized by the young insecure illustrator Norman Rockwell, who patterned himself after Leyendecker and asked him for his clients. Leyendecker was shy and avoided the spotlight, and naively introduced Rockwell to his clients. Rockwell later stole the Saturday Evening Post from Leyendecker, whose career took a dive afterwards.

The movement he was part of could be called "American Imagists," who elucidated subjects and persuaded viewers. However, after years of entertaining high society types at their mansion, Leyendecker and his partner were private, with the artist and his partner preferring gardening and other home activities to making friends with local artists or critics . He painted for himself, and not to impress or receive recognition from others. After he died, it took a while for his work to receive the recognition and exhibitions they deserved.

Style/Working methods:
Would add oils to his model's skins to help exaggerate reflection and highlights on skin tones. Lots of underlighting, visible brush strokes (especially in backgrounds), angular folds. Would try to work directly from the model, but for covers would plan more carefully to decorate an entire page. First step: fill a a sketchpad with a number of small rough sketches (2" x 3"), keeping them on one page to compare at a glance, then select the most interesting ones for clarity and the most interesting design. Step two: Transfer pieces to the actual magazine cover size. Step three: call the model back for pencil or charcoal studies, and do them in full color on a "sketch canvas" (10" x 15") with oil or watercolor. Be alert with an open mind to any pose or new detail that is worth incorporating. Final canvas resembles a "picture puzzle" on tracing paper to assemble and fit into final design with eliminated inessentials. Step four: retraced final layout to final canvas, which is normally twice the size of the study.

Quotes: "A cover or advertisement is like a poster and should tell its story on a single flat plane, as if pasted to a wall board...A cover or poster or an advertisement should be devoid of perspective and distance should only appear in the abstract and the artist should never have to explain its content."

"The amateur draws an illustration and offers it as a cover, whereas a cover at its best is truly a poster, more related to murals or sculpture than to illustration. It should tell its story on one plane, without realistic perspective and distance. And that story should be told in pantomime, without explanatory legend."

Illustrator/author Howard Pyle's tenets for Imagists: experience the environment which one intends to illustrate, use authentic costumes and props, and properly research historical antecedents to bring near reality to the audience. Produce images with quality, truth, and beauty as underlying motives.

Poster artists and studios, eras:
Paramount - Harrison Fisher (1920s), Constantin Alajalov (1930s), John Lagotta (1950s)
MGM - John Held Jr (1940s)
United Artists - Saul Bass (1960s)
Warner Brothers - Bob Peak (1970s)
20th Century Fox - Richard Amsel (1980s)
DreamWorks/LucasFilms - Drew Struzan (1990s)

[Edgar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book that seeks to illuminate on the life and career of JC Leyendecker. I wasn't aware of much about Leyendecker's life and even though I've been on the lookout for a book on his work since I first discovered it, it took years before I found a book that looked to present his art in a worthy way.

This book does a wonderful job of showcasing JC Leyendecker's amazing work. The size and print quality of the book allow for the reader to really take in his amazing illustrations. I do have one criticism that I believe should be noted.

In one section. a lot of JC Leyendecker's magazine cover illustrations are grouped together (at fair size) into single page galleries and one of those covers from each of the single page galleries is typically printed again on the opposite page. When comparing the same illustration printed at two sizes, a big change in color is noticeable. The smaller reproduction, in general, had much much stronger reds to the point that they seemed to dominate all skin areas.

Perhaps I missed an explanation. Maybe the one page gallery reproductions came from scans of the magazines and maybe the red ink in the magazine covers fade less than the other inks and the images reproduced at a much larger size are scanned in from the original paintings. Either way, it makes one wonder if the color accuracy of the reproduction is good if the consistency can be questioned.

There's a couple minor criticisms I have of the writing, but in my mind, for this book, as long as the writing does a good job of enriching our understanding of an artist who should be every bit as famous as Mucha or Rockwell, then the writing has done its job.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Criminy, J.C. Leyendecker sure led an interesting life. He was America's foremost illustrator in the 1910s, '20s and '30s, best known for the handsome "Arrow Collar Man" and unique, Japanese-inspired painting techniques that made clothing and drapery look especially crisp and modern. The large-format reproductions of Leyendecker's paintings are the main reason to check out this book. The Cutlers' biography has a few inaccuracies, making the text suspicious (which is why my rating is docked a star). They're also way too fawning with their subject, crediting Leyendecker with inventing everything from Santa Claus' red suit to the custom of flowers on Mother's Day. Leyendecker was a fantastic artist who mastered visualizing what the commercial market wanted in the early 20th century. Unlike his main rival, Norman Rockwell, Leyendecker stuck with the same trite, sentimental subject matter year after year, making him a has-been in his own time. The Cutlers didn't treat Rockwell very well in this book, although from Rockwell's own autobiography it was clear that he genuinely admired the older artists and took cues from Leyendecker's sad, lonely later years on what not to do with his own life/work.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never heard of J.C. Leyendecker til I read this book and a what a fascinating artist he was. He came to Chicago with his family in 1882 from Germany as an eight year old. He and his younger brother Frank became illustrators for various companies and magazines including the famous Saturday Evening Post. In fact Leyendecker had more covers than Norman Rockwell - one more that is. There styles are very similar and Mr. Rockwell was taught by Leyendecker.
Beautiful drawings from 1895 till his death in 1951.
Some believe he is the "Great Gatsby" portrayed in the novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. - Fascinating

[Union County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norman Rockwell is undoubtedly the most renowned American illustrator. However, few know that Rockwell practically corner stoned his career on the shoulders of an artist who he admired greatly and sought to emulate: J. C. Leyendecker, the most influential illustrator of all time.

- Reviewed by Oscar O.

[Soledad P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Para aquellos que tengan gusto por las artes visuales o simplemente quieran alimentar su imaginario visual, este libro será de gran ayuda. Nos muestra la obra de J.C. Leyendecker, nacido alemán pero nacionalizado estadounidense y que llegó a ser uno de los ilustradores más importantes del siglo XX, creando estereotipos e iconos que hasta el día de hoy reconocemos.
Imágenes como el Santa Claus vestido de rojo, un bebé representando el año nuevo, regalar flores para el día de la madre u hombres extremadamente apuestos y varoniles como símbolo de estatus y riqueza son gracias a Leyendecker.

Su maestría a la hora de maneras los óleos es indiscutible y manejaba un toque muy dramático de la luz, que hacía que sus personajes “salieran” del lienzo, fue el antecedente inmediato de Rockwell (de quien se dice copió muchos motivos de Leyendecker y se aprovechó de su amistad para robarle los contactos. Esto puede quedar demostrado por el hecho de que Leyendecker fue reemplazado por Rockwell como ilustrador del Saturday Evening Post) y la futura generación de ilustradores. Su vida, como en general la de los artistas, es una suma de contrastes. Hombre tímido y retraído, sucumbía bajo las influencias de su pareja sentimental y modelo, Charles Beach, cosa que lo llevó a ser parte esencial de las fiestas y socialité de la época. Sin embargo su relación con Beach lo llevó a un quiebre con su familia, aislándose de ella.

El libro coloca la relación de Leyendecker con Beach como un ejemplo de la comunidad homosexual, ya que fueron pareja por más de 40 años. También coloca a Leyendecker como el artísta moderno que sabe hacerse propaganda e impregnar de su sello personal lo que hace, aunque sean ilustraciones comerciales.

Su homosexualidad se ve inherente en cada ilustración, siempre citaba elementos erógenos que pasan desapercibidos para el público, pero que ahora, con la información que tenemos, se hacen algo obvios. La tensión que siempre existe entre sus personajes masculinos es notable.

Y no hay mucho que agregar, sólo que el libro tiene un montón de ilustraciones preciosas y de excelente calidad, que me dejaron sin aliento cuando las ojeé.

Un excelente libro

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My knowledge of Leyendecker before reading this text was mostly just his style and a few key images. Cutler wrote a compelling account of the illustrator's work, life and times. I found some gems of overlapping narratives with Rockwell, Muncha, Gauguin, the Fitzgerald's and more. It is amazing to read about how many people that Leyedecker came into contact with in Paris, Chicago, New York City and New Rochelle. Also the author points to many items that JC Leyedecker instituted that I found odd, shocking, and worth researching more. This is a list of what Leyedecker began: first American-male pop image with model Charles Beach, jolly Santa Claus in red and white (later copied by Sundblom for Coca-Cola), Mother's Day tradition of giving flowers, even the iconic New Year's Baby. Something else intriguing that Cutler wrote about was a new label for Leyendeck and other Golden Age Illustrators to help legitimize them in the early Modernist era. He suggests that American Imagists defines how those like Frank, Joe, Maxfield Parish, NC Wyeth, Howard Christy, "Cy" Phillips and others. Culter states the following (that I find disagreeable but interesting) about the distinction between artists and illustrators, "...illustrators created paintings with the express intention of having them reproduced. As a result, J.C. Leyendecker and his colleagues were extraordinarily successful, in terms of both fame and fortune, while most easel artists were not... The American Imagist artworks were created to be appreciated by large audiences rather than a few critics or gallery-goers or a single collector wanting a painting just to impress others."p232.

Joe's brief description about his working process is interesting, "As a rule I start work with a round brush or flat sable using a thin wash with turps as a medium. Keep shadows very transparent and as the work progresses apply the paint more thickly on lighted areas adding some poppy or linseed oil if necessary, and using a larger flatter brush for the heavier paint... When the work is dry, apply a quick-drying retouch varnish either with a brush or atomizer... try and avoid photography, if possible."

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

I found out that this book is rather controversial after reading all the comments left by other readers on Amazon, most are disgusted by the historical inaccuracies and personal agenda of the authors. Even I have to agree to a certain extent. At the end of the book, you'll get the impression that Norman Rockwell, Leyendecker's competition, is nothing but vile. One reader even pointed out a knock-off painting that was mistaken as an original Leyendecker work. These are only two examples.

In short, you should get this book for the art and not the text.

Leyendecker's paintings is easily identifiable by the exaggerated, quick brushstroke effect, or crosshatched strokes with oil paint. The reason why I bought the book was to check out how he draws the folds on those clothes. His command of drawing clothes and drapery is masterly. His more iconic pieces would be the Arrow Collar Man, New Year babies, and the covers for Saturday Evening Post.

Plenty of cover art he did for magazines are also included, although it's small at 9 per page. I thought the scans and reproduction of the paintings are pretty good. Yes, there might be yellow stains on those old copies of Saturday Evening Post but note that these paintings are from before the 1950s. The large illustrations are reproduced well, showing the texture of the medium. I like that his portraits are full of form and solidity, which I understand are drawn with models as reference.

The included biography is controversial but I didn't really buy this book for the text.

All said, it's still a very decent archive of Leyendecker's work.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illustration as Art as Illustration

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 - July 25, 1951) holds the position as the most important American illustrator of his time, a position he firmly held until his successor Norman Rockwell ((February 3, 1894 - November 8, 1978) replaced him in the late 30s early 40s. His posters, book and advertising illustrations won him a vast following for his ability to capture the mood, the style and the joie de vivre of the American public. His illustrations of magazine and catalogs of the Arrow Shirt Collection (the trade name was 'The Arrow Collar Man') made his illustrations immediately recognizable not only in this country but around the world. He was responsible for over 300 cover illustrations of the popular Saturday Evening Post earning him the distinction of being the country's most well read magazine's art Tsar.

This very well designed book is rich with reproductions of Leydendecker's work. Spending time with the images he created for the Arrow Collar title makes us aware of the degree of sexual attention he gave the American male. This aspect of Leydendecker's work is not significantly touched on in this particular book, nor is much attention paid to his private life. Historically the volume is correct and the devotion of the page space to art is commendable. Though the written aspects of the book by Laurence and Judy Cutler add significance to the importance of this artist, there is too much left unsaid. Perhaps another biography of this reclusive artist icon of the 1020s will surface. Until that time, this book is well worth adding to the library of art books.

Grady Harp

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of this incredible artist and his contribution to American culture. This book is worth getting just for the amazing complete collection of Saturday Evening Post covers. I had no idea about Leyendecker's sexual orientation, but the author adds an undercurrent of sadness in the details of a closeted homosexual living in the early 20th Century. Among the many surprises I uncovered was the modeling career of actor Brain Donlevy (I can never watch Quatermass in the same way again) and Leyendecker's invention of the classic Santa Claus costume. This book will be of interest to just about anyone interested in art or popular American culture.

[Lowbrow]

The reproductions of original paintings are reproduced sharply and are beautiful to look at. Not sure if it was worth including all 300+ Saturday Evening Post covers at such tiny sizes, maybe that should have been a separate book, or maybe they didn’t have access to good enough sources to reprint at full page.

The text in this has a bit of weird tone, overly complementary writing doesn’t always reconcile with the many sadder aspects of Leyendecker’s life, both often used in the same paragraph. Poor Mr Beach, Leyendecker’s lifelong partner, is made into an uneducated villain, with no one to defend him.

[Bookamante]

beautiful illustrations

[Juan Reyes jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently (according to amazon reviewers) the bio is pretty biased, and wrong (?) but the reproductions are GORGEOUS. Oh man, that style of his is phenomenal.

[John Barrows]

A very good book on one of the greatest American illustrators. The photos are high quality and the text is well written and informative.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art (obviously) but could have used more in-depth discussion on the actual art process, racial stereotyping, etc. Felt like they avoided some subjects? We'll never know his personal thoughts, but he was commissioned to create artwork that features racist stereotypes and that can be discussed with cultural context. They touch on his technique very briefly. He did sketches, then drew a grid and sized it up... but how? Surely, this was something Norman Rockwell, etc, would have talked about, seeing as they studied and worked alongside him? I would have liked the writing to go deeper; felt surface level.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Rating is purely for the wealth of art gathered together in this look at a less known but deeply influential American painter and illustrator.

I went looking for it because of his mentions in Norman Rockewll's memoirs and it becomes immediately apparent the level of mimicry and inspiration that Norman took from his idol, going so far as to copy his style so closely that it became synonymous with his name rather than the man he imitated that originated it. (They each had unique styles but the more cartoonish look they employed for their Satarday Evening Post covers is where the imitation is staggering.)

[Greg L Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to this volume looking for a specific art reference and ended up reading it cover to cover --- again. A beautiful and comprehensive book covering the works of an artist who is easily one of the most important American commercial illustrators of all-time.

[Adéla Adéla!]

A beautifully designed book that gets straight to the point. My only problem is that I would have liked the writing to be more neutral and avoid the use of "our", "we" or the occasional authors' own opinions.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much a fascinating exploration of Leyendecker’s life and cultural impact, as it is a celebration of his incredible and prolific artwork.

Essential for fans of J.C. Leyendecker, or even just for anyone with an interest in commercial art and illustration.

[Rachael Kosinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, beautiful art. Really made me rethink my opinion on Norman Rockwell, though.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, iconic book. I love the hidden homoerotic messages in these illustrations.

[haven ⋄ f (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 // maybe when talking about a secret gay icon, you shouldn't be homophobic in the forward.... otherwise great!! so informative

[Artie C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had a time machine one of the first things I would do would be visit Charles Beach's grave.

[Madelyn Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

been sitting on my coffee table for a year. when i’m bored i flip through the pages (dw i did read the biography). wish there were more arrow collar ads !!