In what is becoming something of a tradition, I’ll wrap up the year with four more Saturday Evening Post covers from the early 20th Century featuring New Year’s babies from J.C. Leyendecker, the illustrator who started the practice of representing the new year as a baby.
For more on the history of Leyendecker’s New Year’s babies, see my post Happy Leyendecker Baby New Year from 2006. I’ve also listed below some of my previous posts about this amazing illustrator, one of the all time greats, who should be much better known than he is today.
The good news is that after many years without an in-print book of Leyendecker’s work, J.C. Leyendecker by Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goffman Cutler was published last year and is still available.
I hope you all have a new year filled with great art, old and new!
-Charley
Thanks, Charley, for all your fascinating posts, and all the best to you in 2010.
Thanks. James. Thank you for your great year of posts as well, not to mention the terrific book that grew out of them.
I didn’t find you until late in 2009, Charley, but I’m really looking forward to following you in 2010! Keep it up!
Happy New year!!! Love your blog!
Always enjoy being here!
Wishing you a prosperous New Year!
Great Post,
Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t Leyendecker – Norman Rockwell’s mentor and hero?
Since Rockwell is my hero I guess I have look up to and Thank Mr. Leyendecker for his work.
You’re correct. In fact, Rockwell’s autobiography is one of the few first-person accounts we have of Leyendecker.