Leyendecker created more than 400 magazine covers during the Golden Age of American Illustration, painting a picture of the new 20th century male and influencing millions of Americans, few of whom knew he was gay. His gaze is fixed on something, or someone else, and the viewer is invited to guess who that might be. Take a moment to observe the dashing man on the stairs, who couldn’t be showing less interest in the girl standing below him in the provocative pink slip dress. He gave us the elegance of Gatsby 20 years before F. One of the first things you’ll start to notice about J oe Christian Leyendecker’s work is that his women were never quite as good-looking as his men, who were devastatingly handsome.
