I had these posted on another forum but I thought some of you Letterville folks would like to see this... Especially Bill Riedel. We went to a J.C. Leyendecker exhibit at the Haggen Museum in Stockton, California last month and I snapped some pics to share. All the paintings are original oils. Mostly pre Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers. The hand lettering is incredible. It's a permanent exhibit and there are about 30 pieces.
[ June 07, 2011, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: Brent Logan ]
Posted by Russ McMullin (Member # 5617) on :
Leyendecker is my favorite illustrator from that period. I am glad you posted this.
Posted by Tom & Kathy Durham (Member # 776) on :
Man, I love that style of painting.
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
N.C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish are another two of that ilk. Leyendecker is also the artist for many of the Arrow shirt ads. Actually, some of the best were the comic book cover artists and some of the Orange Crate artists.
There is a gallery in NYC that specializes in these guys and the pinup artists like Vargas.
Well worth checking out their website if fine illustration is your lust. Personally, I like R. Crumb, Victor Moscosso and S. Clay Wilson as the later versions of the craft, but definitely a little bent.
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
Speaking of museums... there's a really cool cartoon museum on Mission St. in San Francisco that has a lot of that old underground stuff. The original panels in picture frames. They had some S. Clay Wilson panels. I never heard of the NYC pinup gallery. I'll have to check it out. I got to go to the American Illustrators gallery in NYC years ago.
[ June 07, 2011, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Brent Logan ]
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
Thank you so much Brent, you are a man after my own heart. How refreshing to see such beautiful work, the skill of these men is almost unbelievable.When at an art gallery and I see magnificent work, I get goose bumps and feel very lucky to be able to see such work. Bill
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
Preston, I was mistaken The cartoon museum had some Spain panels. I get his and S. Clay's names mixed up. It's all coming back to me now.. S. Clay drew the Checkered Demon, right?
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
Steve was indeed the Checkered Demon artist and still is, I think. I saw he had some health problems and lives in SF, still. His work is quite unique, to say the least. Run a Goog on S.Clay Wilson and you will see his work.
He was a student/model at KU when I was just starting there in art school. Wild man indeed. I heard he took his Harley up on the frieght elevator as part of some "Be In" performance art project. Unfortunately, the painting department was on the floor above the Chancellor's office and they were having a Board of Regents meeting about the time he fired up his unmufflered hog on the floor above to run it back and forth in the hallway. I think that is when they asked him to leave the program. I heard also that he used to do some rather shocking poses in Dwight Burnam's freshman drawing class, like swinging from a rope and yelling Tarzan chants, buck naked. Lots of poses acting out 'shooting up' with a rubber hose around his elbow. The young sorority girls were a bit astonished, I heard. I bet they went back to their respective houses and had a few tawdry things to say about that.
His work in Zap was about the best I ever saw. Lots of pirates and wenches. Blood and guts and profane as they could be. The stuff is so over the top that not even Gaga can compete in those clouds. Now Robert Crumb got smart and hightailed it out of here for France. Zap was really quite the interesting publication and yes indeed, I have a very nice collection of the vintage ones that are probably worthless, but who cares. It was a time of great promise and those Zaps made me feel like anything was possible and it still is.
Posted by Dennis Kiernan (Member # 12202) on :
I've got a bunch of Zaps too. For a while I worked at Rolling Stone and the Berkeley Barb. Preston, you know Crumb, Moscoso, and S. Clay may sue you for saying they were a little bent.
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
Absolutely timeless...Thanks Brent, these are wonderful...Pat
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
Crumb is in France. Moscosso is probably still too busy mastering his real "Nothing Lasts" stuff and Steve is probably preoccupied, playing Captain Pi**gums with his glory wenches. Argh!
Did you know any of the Zappers? What geniuses they were! ...and do you have a Moscosso Color Comic?
Posted by Miles Cullinane (Member # 980) on :
