Seated Lady with Elegant Hat 1897

This sketch of a woman in an elegant hat, with crayon on paper, was made by J.C. Leyendecker, the famous illustrator who created the Arrow Collar Man. Leyendecker made his name by visually constructing the image of the ideal American man and in this drawing, we see his engagement with the construction of the ideal woman. Her large hat and delicate features conform to the Edwardian era ideal of feminine beauty. Consider how the artist uses the white of the paper to bring out the blue irises beside her. The irises create a sense of fin-de-siecle melancholy, reflecting the cultural mood at the turn of the century. Leyendecker, a gay man, was deeply invested in the nuances of social performance and visual cues that signaled belonging and status. This drawing performs a complex set of tensions between artifice, desire, and the artist's personal experiences.