Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Like many other reviewers, I have been waiting for a book like this for years. And, like them, I am both thrilled and disappointed. While this is one of the most comprehensive collections of Leyendecker illustrations ever to see print, and worth the price of the book alone, the text is severely wanting. The book is full of errors, both minor and major, and has an antagonistic tone to boot.
An example of the former is the claim that the actor Neil Hamilton, "appeared AS `Tarzan the Ape Man' (1934)." This, of course, should read that he appeared IN "Tarzan the Ape Man" (1932). ("Tarzan and His Mate," in which Hamilton also appeared, again not as Tarzan, was released in `34).
Examples of the later would be any mention of other illustrators, about whom they usually have some snarky comment to make. A particular amount of vitriol is spewed on to Norman Rockwell, whom they portray as the most contemptible of human beings.
This is frankly a disturbing trend in a lot of books. (witness the James Bama book "American Realist" and "Excess- the art of Michael Golden" for other examples) It seems that it is no longer enough to present an artist works and plead his case, but one must also denigrate and dismiss that artist contemporaries and rivals. If one wishes to bash artist such as Cole Phillips and Rockwell, and Leyendecker's brother and sister too boot, there are plenty of other places to do so. Is it really necessary to do such in a Leyendecker biography?
Also be aware that the authors lay much of the 20th centuries iconography at Leyendecker's feet. They exaggeratingly claim that J.C. is responsible for everything from giving flowers to mom on mother day, playing football on Thanksgiving, inspiring the novel "the Great Gatsby," and much more. It's one thing to laud your heroes accomplishments, quite another to exaggerate them.
By all means, buy the book. But do so for the pretty pictures, not the text.
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