The following is a research-in-progress and a rabbit hole that I’m trying to escape.
I’ve been an avid collector of the magazine Physical Culture, which was founded in 1899 by Bernarr Macfadden. His life story is the stuff of legends and rabbit holes. Macfadden was the founder of a large publishing company that bore his name, and his flagship was Physical Culture (which was renamed Beauty and Health in 1941 after he sold the rights to it, and renamed as Physical Culture in 1943 after Macfadden regained control). It ceased publication after Macfadden’s death in 1955. His life story (which I urge you to read) is entertaining—but Macfadden is only the entrance to the rabbit hole.
I’ve collected a batch of covers from the 20s, mostly of women in gym or swim suits, showing off their physical prowess and always wondered who was the illustrator. He worked in the prevailing realistic style and seemed to disappear into the miasma of once-fashionable illustration.
Recently, I was gifted the pencil sketches and black-and-white photos of oil paintings below. Each has a rubber-stamped name on the back that initially looked to me like it read “Clay Weaver,” a signature that also appears on Physical Culture covers. Never having heard that name, I contacted illustration historians to determine who this was but no one had a clue. (Google provided two citations for “Clay”, both showing realist paintings circa 1930s that were auctioned.)
One of my expert correspondents, David Apatoff, suggested I that he had no idea and maybe I had misread the name. A correct assumption, which he confirmed through another expert, Fred Taraba, who gave the artist’s name as Jay W. Weaver. Thus began a weekend dig with little to show for it, save one biographical citation read, “Weaver [deceased circa 1960] was a member of the Society of Independent Artists in 1939. He spent time working in Oklahoma and is known for figurative works.” Another added he showed at the Salmagundi Club in New York and sold his “fine” art at auction. That was a life in a few words. Sad.
Tracking Weaver to this point has been inconclusive … and frustrating to consider how many unknown 20th-century illustrators’ work is stored in attics and elsewhere, just waiting to be discovered. There’s just not enough room in archives, libraries and museums for all that’s produced … and forgotten.
Above a random selection of sketches. Below photographs of finished paintings used for advertisements.
Jay W. Weaver (American d. 1960), Cottage Landscape, Oil on Canvas, Signed l.r., Frame 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (29.2 x 36.8 cm.)
Est: $50 – $100
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