This is the prize-winning design in The Century’s contest that got Joseph Leyendecker started on his long career. The model’s gold hair and the red stylized poppies dominate the inviting design. Although he was one of America’s favorite illustrators and trend setters in graphic design, Leyendecker remained an intensely private person throughout his life. He was born in Germany of Dutch ancestry and came to the United States with his family at the age of eight, where they settled in Chicago. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute while apprenticing as an engraver; from the age of twenty he made his living as an illustrator.
W. B. Orcutt, New York
literature: Margolin, p. 50; DFP-I, 282; Reims, 1239; Modern Poster, 112; Leyendecker, p. 66; Lauder, 112; PAI-XCI, 11