Advertisement for The Arrow Collar Man 1912

This advertisement for The Arrow Collar Man, made with oil paint by J.C. Leyendecker, is just so striking and elegant! You can almost smell the oil paint, can’t you? I can just imagine Leyendecker here in his studio, stepping back and forth, trying to figure out how to capture these men and their clothes, how they are sitting, their body language, and how to use the fabric on the sofa to set it off. The way the light hits the figures makes me want to be there in that room, watching these two well-dressed men in a private moment. And it's all in service of the collar! The color palette is very subtle, almost monochromatic, but there are these little pops of color like the flower on the lapel, which really brings the painting to life. It makes me want to pick up a brush and capture the world around me. Artists are always learning from each other!