1926 Leyendecker Saturday Evening Post Illustration
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GUEST:
The artist is Joe Leyendecker, and he was known to us as Uncle Joe. And he was a friend of our grandfather's, and they became friends at the turn of the century. So, the earliest record we have of their relationship is 1898, something like that. We don't know how good the friendship was, but we imagine that it was a very close friendship.
APPRAISER:
I see.
GUEST:
Sadly, our grandfather took his own life...
APPRAISER:
Oh.
GUEST:
...in 1921, when our father was still very small. And so, Uncle Joe never lost contact with the family.
APPRAISER:
I see.
GUEST:
And when our mother and father were married...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...and when Dad's two sisters were married, Uncle Joe gave a painting to each of them as a wedding gift. And they were married in, uh, 1931. So it's been in our family forever. And when Mother and Dad were married, he said that he wanted to paint the background gold to celebrate the wedding.
APPRAISER:
I see.
GUEST:
And so what we noticed, of course, was that he changed his monogram to a full signature after he painted it gold. And he painted out "Easter."
APPRAISER:
Okay, well, you've answered part of my question...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
...which is why a painting that starts looking like this now looks like that.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Which, I love it, it's highly decorative, it's beautifully done.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Draftsmanship is great, colors are great. So, this was published April 3, 1926.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Now, Joseph Leyendecker was the most popular American illustrator during this time, was a great influence on Norman Rockwell. They knew each other. He did 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post alone.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
In total, Joe Leyendecker painted over 400 covers, and this all coincides with what was called the Golden Age of American illustration, which took place roughly from around the 1890s to about 1945.
GUEST:
Hm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And during this time, Americans by and large got their images, their information, their entertainment from periodicals and from magazines. At the same time, you had advances being made in printing. Four-color printing was introduced.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And so you have greater sort of clarity and optical fidelity in the reproduction...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...relative to the original painting. A number of the Saturday Evening Post paintings that went on to be used as covers that have been featured at auction have the original lettering. And also have these two parallel horizontal lines, and you can kind of see in a raking light where they would have been.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Really well-done. He is, amongst other things, known for working quickly, and the market right now for an American illustrator is, is pretty strong. It's very strong, in fact.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
I don't know if the painting has ever been appraised.
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
I don't know if you have any sense as to its, its val...
GUEST:
The closest we can come to it is what our cousin sold hers for, and she sold hers for $125,000 15 years ago.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. The last Saturday Evening Post cover that came to auction this year was estimated at $150,000 to $250,000. Sold for over $4 million with the buyer's premium. I think an auction estimate...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...a conservative auction estimate in 2021, is probably $150,000 to $200,000.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Now, if I saw this painting come to auction, however, would I be surprised if it came closer to $200,000 to $300,000 or more?
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
I would not.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
In fact, I would very much fully expect that that would happen.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah. Well, my sister's daughter is looking forward to owning it. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
I see, okay, so it will stay in the family.
GUEST:
Oh, yeah, it will stay in the family.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's a great painting. I think for insurance purposes in 2021, I would probably insure the painting for $400,000.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm. Well, thank you, David.
APPRAISER:
Thank you very much.
GUEST:
Thank you.
APPRAISER:
Thank you for bringing it in.
GUEST:
All right, okay.
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