You Know the Advertisement of the Man

June 16, 2019 10:59 AM

For the time, it would certainly have been subversive and risky to base the country’s most prominent symbol of haughty masculinity on Leyendecker’s own gay lover. Their forbidden love was in everyone’s faces in the ads of one of the country’s most prominent clothing manufacturers and on the covers of America’s favorite conservative magazine, though it remained hidden in plain sight—so much so that few sources even mentioned Leyendecker’s homosexuality until fairly recently. The Arrow Collar Man specifically, and the Leyendecker Man more generally, became the model of style, sophistication, and masculinity. What Maketh a Man: How queer artist J.C. Leyendecker invented an iconography of twentieth-century American masculinity by Tyler Malone
posted by chavenet (5 comments total)

Some previouslys
posted by hugbucket at 11:35 AM on June 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

I really enjoyed this for the writing, the information helping to better understand a largely neglected but important artist, and for the work itself which deserves the attention. Thanks for the post!
posted by gusottertrout at 1:13 PM on June 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

He also created some great WWi posters. I’ve very fond of the Order Coal Now poster.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/wwi/41917/100.html
posted by Ideefixe at 7:06 PM on June 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

I never knew where my image of how I was supposed to appear and act came from. I thought my job was to be broad shouldered, have a good jaw line and be silent. This explains a lot.
posted by Ironmouth at 11:24 AM on June 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

More about Leyendecker, Beach and queer imagery on the front page.
posted by jb at 12:11 PM on June 17, 2019 [1 favorite]