J.C. Leyendecker and the birth of a new year

Master illustrator J.C. Leyendecker is responsible for popularizing the tradition of representing the New Year visually as a baby in American culture. Here are a few more of his wonderful New Years babies from the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.



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From Wikipedia

Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 – July 25, 1951) was one of the pre-eminent American illustrators of the early twentieth century. He is best known for his poster, book, and advertising illustrations, the iconic trade character known as the Arrow Collar Man, and his numerous covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Between 1896 and 1950, Leyendecker painted more than four hundred magazine covers. During ‘The Golden Age of American Illustration’, for the Saturday Evening Post alone, J. C. Leyendecker produced 322 covers, as well as many advertisement illustrations for its interior pages. No other artist, until the arrival of Norman Rockwell two decades later, was so solidly identified with one publication.