Leyendecker Self Portrait

2022

16” x 22”

Oil paint on canvas

Assigned to rework a master copy into a self-portrait, this work is a recreation of J.C. Leyendecker’s 1946 Thanksgiving cover of American Weekly. In the original, the artist is male and is cooking a sausage for dinner, which is comical knowing Leyendecker’s sexuality. I opted instead for grilled peaches. I also employed Leyendecker’s famed white-stroke background even though the original work did not have a background. It was simply reproduced on plain newsprint. Besides this, the remainder of the piece was intended to mimic the master’s hand exactly and hopefully learn to understand the way he chose to stylize form and shadow.