Deco commercial illustrations for Arrow Collars

JC Leyendecker's commercial illustrations from the 1920s sure were beautiful.

J C Leyendecker Arrow Collar artwork 1920's

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: art • fashion • vintage

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=575215191 Darren Tange

The one on the right helped inspire one of my favorite paintings of the Joker by Alex Ross.

http://www.ypress.org/files/image/harleyquinn1024.jpg
http://www.facebook.com/people/Spitty-Sumo/100002601661770 Spitty Sumo

it frustrates me that rockwell became better-known than leyendecker — the latter was the superior artist, and the former was rather often “inspired” by his works.
- knoxblox
  
  It should also be added that Leyendecker’s lines utilized a certain lyricism in the curvature and spacing that few artists can compare to these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had consciously studied and utilized dynamic symmetry in his work.
ocker3

I was trying to come up with something worth saying, but these are just Good!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607675355 Brent Kirkham

Mucha rocks, these are great because the way was paved. They are beautiful. Standing on the shoulders of giants.
snagglepuss

Swayve and deboner. I refuse to even consider the possibility that my parents EVER looked like that.
Kurt

Here’s another one.
Samuel Cohen

Anyone else find it odd that the artist opted to keep the female model’s shoulder mole in the painting? Personally, I find it to be relatable and, dare I say, alluring… and it helps to make the arrow brand approachable to the everyday man. But still…
- hypnosifl
  
  this scan of the same ad (from this blog post) doesn’t have the “mole” there, I wonder if it was just some damage to that one copy of the ad, or something caught in the scanner.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    FYI – your comment and the subsequent ones were in the spam filter.
    
    Disqus simultaneously started screwing around with the spam filter and changed the mod panel to make it impossible for moderators to view all categories (eg – Approved, Spam, etc.) in one queue.
    
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    - hypnosifl
      
      What would you suggest I do if a comment gets caught in the spam filter, if not try to re-submit it later (and I did wait several hours) with a different wording? Do mods consistently check the spam filter, so if I wait long enough it should be reinstated?
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
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http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Smith/731411332 David Smith

The picture on the right. What is she looking at? This has always baffled me.
- ocker3
  
  He’s looking away as well, perhaps things aren’t going right between them. Looking good even while being unhappy is a selling point too, and making everyone always happy in your work probably gets boring for artist and audience
- knoxblox
  
  I think she’s looking back over her shoulder…probably at that mole that’s been bothering her for the last 15 years.
wafna

David Smith & Ocker3: the couple in the picture on the right are probably doing the tango. The positioning and direction of their faces are appropriate to the moves of the dance.
- penguinchris
  
  No… she’s looking down and to her right, and he’s looking away to his left. They may be in the general tango position, but there is much more on their minds than that.
  
  What’s most striking about these to me is that the guy’s tuxedo literally doesn’t exist – there’s no area in either one where his tuxedo is in front of the girl, and the whole thing is the exact same color as the background. So what you’re seeing is just the collar and the shirt, which is the product being advertised.
  
  As a photographer normally we’d try to avoid clothing blending in with the background, but it works amazingly well here and it’s inspired me… now I have photoshoot ideas.
cymk

I got a coffee table book of Leyendecker’s work; awesome stuff in there.

@facebook-100002601661770:disqus : While yes, rockwell became better know for his Saturday Evening Post covers; Leyendecker also did covers for SEP, as well as a few other magzines of the time.
http://twitter.com/AngerMonkey AngerMonkey

I generally feel like Livejournal is fairly useless, but the Vintage-Ads community is unquestionably one of my favorite things on the internet.
tmccartney66

I killed a Big Daddy near one of those posters.
HenryPootel

Leyendecker’s style was an influence on the art style of Valve’s Team Fortress 2 game BTW
http://twitter.com/chriscoreline chris coreline

I was never a fan of Art Deco whilst young, but i think i have growen into it now i am not as young, the twenties were such a misterious time, historically overshadowed by the wars on either side of them and culturally upstaged by the renasence of jazz and blues which went on to be the root from which our current cultural refrence sprang.

Must Procure Coffee Table Books
markfrei

I’ve not seen any bios of Leyendecker – it would be facinating to read an account of his and his partner’s high flying life during the 20′s.
William Joseph Dunn

The thing that is amazing about JC Leydendecker’s style, is that even though these painting were done in the 20′s, his work looks so damn current. The only thing that dates his work is the style of the clothes depicted.