"The Artist's Corner..."

 

What I Like About This: This magazine cover from Labor Day 1946, was created by the early 20th century's preeminent commercial illustrator, J. C. Leyendecker. In this work, he loudly proclaims the truth that American labor and the working man had made possible America's victory in WWII, placing the U.S. figuratively and quite literally, "on top of the world" as she emerged as the sole superpower and leading economy of the post-war era. Lyendecker was a gay man and the homoeroticism of his images is widely recognized today. And yet, in his time, his images "came to define the fashionable American male during the early decades of the twentieth century" and were immensely popular. As in this illustration, he often included the likeness of his favorite model and life partner, Charles Beach.