NEW YORK CITY—The American Illustrators Gallery announces its current exhibition entitled Fashion in the Golden Age featuring original drawings, paintings, and watercolors by important illustrators J.C. Leyendecker, John LaGatta, Howard Chandler Christy, Charles Dana Gibson, John Held, Jr., Norman Rockwell, Harrison Fisher, F.X. Leyendecker, Rolf Armstrong, and others.

From the 1890s through the 1940s, it was the artist’s responsibility to represent the current fashion trends of the season. They did this through advertisements, magazine covers, story illustrations, and posters. By portraying fashion, art was able to take an active role in popular culture as a form of visual expression that influenced all of society.

One of the first fashion magazines ever created and today the most renowned, Vogue was known for its cutting-edge designs and bold illustrations. Helen Dryden (1887-1981) was one of the most popular cover artists for the magazine. British illustrators as well as artist groups such as the Fauves influenced her paintings. These qualities are seen in Lady with Swan, a Vogue cover from June 1914.

Harrison Fisher (1875-1934) was another highly regarded illustrator in the early 1900s. For most of Fisher’s career, he carried an exclusive contract with Cosmopolitan magazine. Preparing for a Costume Party appeared as a Cosmopolitan cover in January 1928. Fisher’s image represented the ideal American girl, graceful, refined, and most importantly—stylish. Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) portrayed women with similar values. The classic “Gibson Girl” is depicted in the Life magazine illustration Women in Deep Discussion.

An artist, whose illustrations have come to represent the era known as the “Jazz Age” is John Held, Jr. (1889-1958). No other artist so beautifully captured the mood of the twenties than Held, Jr. His flapper's high hemline, cloche hat, and the ardor of her ‘Joe College’ suitors established themselves as the official portrait of the decade. In The 19th Hole, a Vanity Fair cover from June 1920, Held illustrates four gentlemen attempting to golf, but quite unsuccessful.

Perhaps the most influential fashion illustrator of the early 1900s was J.C. Leyendecker (1874-1951). He created the first brand name, the Arrow Collar man and virtually launched the advertising industry. Books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby and countless others were inspired by the fashion statements his images created. Arrow Collar Ad—With Collie, featured in this exhibition, depicts Leyendecker’s iconic figures at leisure wearing the most recent styles for spring.

The eveningwear fashions of the thirties and forties are defined in Wedding Scene and Just Engaged, two artworks by John LaGatta (1894-1977), as well as The Look-See Round by Gilbert Bundy (1911-1955). LaGatta’s women were beautiful, full-figured, and always the perfect image of elegance. Bundy’s illustration appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1948 depicting a woman lavishly dressed in a fur coat and cocktail dress.

Mortimer Wilson, Jr. (1906-1996) also depicted refined, well-dressed women in his paintings such as Dipsy Doodle Girl, a Saturday Evening Post illustration. Her expression and manner suggest her wealth, as do the gold bracelets worn around her delicate wrists.

American Illustrators Gallery, 18 East 77th Street near Madison Avenue. For information, call 212.744.5190 or visit our website at www.americanillustrators.com. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 5: 30 pm.