Arrow Shirt Collar Advertisement 1907

J.C. Leyendecker’s advertisement gives us these impossibly elegant men, posed with what looks like oil on canvas. I really wonder about making a painting like this. Look at the details in the clothing—all those tonal shifts in the suits, and the faces, so smooth and subtly lit. You have to imagine the artist trying to make it look effortless. But it’s not. He must have really wrestled with the details. I can almost feel him making each mark and the kind of mental effort it takes to make this look easy. It is so representational, so different to my own practice. But actually, when you look closely, you can see these great swooping gestures in the background. I find it so interesting to think about the decisions the artist made. It makes me feel more connected to them.