Curatorial notes
Editor: Here we have J.C. Leyendecker’s "The Speed God Mercury" created in 1907, likely a painting since it has elements of "plein-air", but it could be a poster since the museum also classified the medium that way. The figure feels so classical, and yet the engine right under him brings it into the 20th century. What’s your take on this piece? Curator: Look closely at the layering of representation here. Leyendecker's use of oil paint, applied in these visible strokes, aims to capture the feel of speed. He’s mass-producing this “artwork” as a magazine cover, Collier’s, accessible and affordable. This is not an old master hanging in a noble’s salon. Consider too how the figure’s bareness monumentalizes, and industrializes the human physique as one to be processed. Editor: So you are saying that by making it a magazine cover, the artist democratized the fine art, in contrast with the typical display and consumption of art. Curator: Precisely. And even the historical and mythological references get caught up in this new means of circulation. Leyendecker uses classic iconography in a manner which suggests movement and urgency. See how he has combined classical figure painting with a mode of distribution associated with modernity. Think about what gets lost in that translation, what labor makes this magazine affordable, who is driving those race cars, who can buy them? Editor: The focus on the processes and the democratization, along with the social and class implications really shifts my perception of what's going on in the painting. I was looking at it purely aesthetically before. Curator: These sorts of images, reproduced endlessly, shaped perceptions of power, technology and, importantly, who was allowed to access them. Always consider who made it, how they made it, and how it got into the hands of the masses.