Sketching at the Haggin

I was at the Haggin Museum in Stockton again last week to see their Plein Air show on Water and a lecture by artist Kathleen Dunphy. I'm no youngster myself but I was one of the younger folks in attendance. Maybe all the young people are working but it is a shame that more people are not taking advantage of this gem of a museum. Maybe only retirees have the time to appreciate the Arts?

I arrived early. Not as early as I hoped, taking Highway 4 out to Stockton (normally an hour and 30 minute drive). Trust me on this one: when you get to that fork in the road on 4 for either Discovery Bay or Livermore, take Disco Bay!! Or else you'll add an extra hour or more to your drive. I hate wasting time like that. But driving through all the rolling hills capped off with giant wind-powered propellors was a little cool.

Anyway, I arrived early to do some sketching in the museum. I immediately went to my favorites: the room full of Leyendeckers! I had not been to the museum in over a year and I'm glad they've given them a permanent room. For awhile there, I became a sort of unofficial lobbyist for the museum and the works of J.C. Leyendecker there by getting the word out and passing out brochures for the Haggin to professional artists at Comic-Con. I knew they had a gold mine there and a select group of creators (illustrators and comic book artists) would appreciate them if only the word got out.

So I did some drawing from the Leyendeckers which just show you how often I draw animals (almost never!). My horse looks terrible. Below are sketches of people in the crowd during the lecture.

The lecture was good although maybe a little on the short side and lacked more images of the artist's paintings. I'm guessing the artist, Dunphy, is in her 50s but I was inspired by her tale of shifting gears in her mid-30s to going back to art school and following her dream to be a painter. It gives me hope that a late bloomer like myself can still make a career out of my art without having to be one of these prodigies that are creating brilliance at a young age. Every artist, even the most talented, still have to put the work in. For me, it seems, that work is coming over the long haul.

J.C. Leyendecker at the Haggin Museum-Part IX

Here are some prelims and roughs along with a few paintings not posted yet....

If you are reading these posts and are a long time Leyendecker fan, I'm sure my write up on these works hasn't broken any new ground for you. However, my hope is that you might on a visual level as I post rare works and close ups, something the two main Leyendecker books don't get into as much.

For those new to Leyendecker's work, I hope this has inspired you to seek out more information and works on this artist who was Norman Rockwell's hero.

And for the new and old fans, I hope this inspires a trip out to the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California. The gold mines use to be farther up the highway in the foothills but, today, there remains a great one half hidden away at the Haggin.

Many thanks to the fine folks at the Haggin Museum for their help and assistance.

J.C. Leyendecker at the Haggin Museum-Part IIX

More early works of J.C. Leyendecker this time including some rarely seen pen & ink...

Early works in Graphite...

FINAL PART...
PART IX
COMING SOON...

J.C. Leyendecker at the Haggin Museum-Part VII

I had intended to write up something for the second half of my large post in the SiDEBAR forums about the Leyendecker works NOT in the show but stored in the museum's archives, which I had made a special appointment to get access to. Pressed for time before the forums went away, I just posted images with minimal type. I didn't back that part up in my archives but I'll try to recreate some of it here.

Above: Artist J.C. Leyendecker.

Above: After artists Frank and J.C. Leyendecker had passed on, their sister Augusta donated many works to the Haggin Museum, who's director at the time in the 1950s was a huge fan of the artist. Besides finished paintings, there are many early works, prelim and roughs, and even a family photo album as seen above.

Above: Photograph of the artists' sister Augusta in her youth.

Above: Newspaper article about the Leyendecker house being moved.

Above: Another photo of August in her youth.

Above: Showing that some things never change, this is one of J.C.'s textbooks from his youth. As any artist does, either out of boredom during class or just seeking a creative outlet, time was spent lettering his name on the insdie cover and then an early illustration on the back inside cover shown below.

Above: An example of J.C.'s immaculate writing. And then yet another signature below, this time a more informal "Joe Leyendecker".

MORE EARLY LEYENDECKER IN PART IIX

J.C. Leyendecker at the Haggin Museum-Part VI

Earlier in his career, he did a series of works for Kelloggs, which still, on occasion, get used by the company. One of these works, perhaps the girl with the strawberries in her cereal, has some cut and paste work done. There was no Photoshop and Command Z then so this was probably a fix-it patch….

Note how smooth his style was for these early works…

COMING UP....PART VII....

WORKS NOT IN THE SHOW

J.C. Leyendecker at the Haggin Museum-Part V

One of a few variations on his signature…

I’ve noticed that Leyendecker liked to use white paint to white out his backgrounds. Sometimes this would show in the reproductions but many times they did not. I think this was part of prepping the illustration to camera reproduction since the audience would see the printed finished image and not the original.

Leyendecker also did portraits like of the Flying Tigers’ Chennault…

Leyendecker’s style (I sometimes liken it to painting with frosting) lended its self well to babies and children…..

PART VI SOON