Study for the Saturday Evening Post cover, July 3 1915

J.C. Leyendecker made this study for the Saturday Evening Post cover, using paint, probably oil. The image shows lots of floating body parts, like some kind of weird ethereal baseball team emerging, ghostlike, from a picnic basket! It makes me think of what it must have been like for Leyendecker, trying to figure out how to arrange all these figures in a pleasing composition. I can imagine him, trying out different gestures, different poses, moving the figures around on the canvas like paper dolls until they clicked into place. The light, creamy tones of the paint give everything a soft, dreamlike quality, even though some of the characters are quite sharply defined, like that kid with the mischievous grin. The whole thing feels really fresh and energetic, not just as a study, but a final artwork in its own right. I love seeing how different artists approach the same problem of capturing movement and life on a flat surface. It's an ongoing conversation!