McClelland Barclay
McClelland Barclay | |
---|---|
Born | 1891 St. Louis, Missouri, US |
Died | July 18, 1943 at sea near the Solomon Islands | (aged 51–52)
Buried | Lost at sea |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/ | Navy |
Years of service | 1938–1943 |
Rank | Lt. Commander |
McClelland Barclay (1891 – 18 July 1943) was an American illustrator. By the age of 21, Barclay's work had been published in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, and Cosmopolitan. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve in 1938[1] and following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor he went on active duty. At the time of his death, in 1943, he was a Lt. Commander.
Early life and education
Born in
Artwork
During World War I, Barclay was awarded a prize by the Committee on National Preparedness in 1917 for his poster "Fill the Breach." The next year, he designed
During the 1920s and 1930s, Barclay's images were selected for use by art directors for the nation's most popular periodicals including
In 1930, the
His posters and camouflage designs earned him Naval commission.[2]
Barclay was a member of the
Barclay did not limit himself to painting. In the late 1930s, he set up a small company to reproduce jewelry and fabricate utilitarian figures for ashtrays, bookends, desk sets, lamps, and other articles for home and office use. These products were fabricated out of cast grey metal with a thick bronze plate finish and they retailed for just a few dollars. The company, which he named the McClelland Barclay Arts Products Corporation, made him little money.[2]
In 1944, a year after his death, Barclay was awarded the
In June 1938, he was appointed Assistant Naval Constructor with the US Naval Reserve. In mid-1940, Barclay prepared experimental
On October 19, 1940, Barclay reported for active duty. He served in the New York Recruiting office, illustrating posters for the next two and a half years. These images would become some of the most recognizable recruiting images of World War II.[1] Barclay was determined to be a front-line combat artist. In March 1943, he told the San Francisco Examiner, "A camera cannot catch the human element of a fight, the sweat and blood and courage our boys expend every time they face the enemy." In 1941 he volunteered for this position, but was rejected. Eventually he would serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters on the USS Arkansas (BB-33), USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), USS Honolulu (CL-48), and the USS Maryland (BB-46).[4]
Promoted to
Barclay was awarded the
Personal life
Barclay's first wife was Nan McClelland, his niece who was 8 years his senior. Barclay did not smoke or drink and boxed to keep in shape; Nan drank, smoked and loved parties. They grew apart and divorced in February 1930. Barclay then became engaged to his second wife, Helene Haskins. She was 20 and he was 39 – they later divorced. After his divorce with Helene, Barclay was briefly engaged to Virginia Moore, a 22-year old model, in 1937.[5][6]
Institutions with his works
- Pritzker Military Museum & Library
- U.S. Navy
- Corewell Health Downtown, Grand Rapids, MI
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "McClelland Barclay". americanillustration.org. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ "The Art of McClelland Barclay in the Naval Art Collection". Archived from the original on April 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
- ^ "McClelland Barclay: Combat Artist". navalaviationnews.com. 9 May 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ Illustration magazine, volume 7, issue 38, 2009, “McClelland Barclay: More than Beautiful Women” by Patricia Gostick, pp. 64–65
- ^ Taylor, Michael. "McClelland Barclay". askart.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
Further reading
- Barclay, McClelland. How You Can Win Your Navy Wings. Washington, DC: U.S. Navy Recruiting Bureau, 1942. OCLC 133465346
- Barclay, McClelland. McClelland Barclay: Exhibition of Portraits, Marines, Sculpture. New York: Portrait Painters Gallery, 1938. OCLC 81292794
- Ermoyan, Arpi. Famous American Illustrators. [Crans, Switzerland]: Published for the Society of Illustrators by Rotovision, 1997. OCLC 38530600
- Martignette, Charles G., and Louis K. Meisel. The Great American Pin-up. Köln: Taschen, 2004. OCLC 57761283
- Taraba, Fred. Masters of American Illustration: 41 Illustrators & How They Worked. Saint Louis, MO: Illustrated Press, 2011. OCLC 730403756
External links
- U.S. ship camouflage
- McClelland Barclay patent for airplane camouflage
- McClelland Barclay posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
- McClelland Barclay artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
- McClelland Barclay Navy Stats at TogetherWeServed
- McClelland Barclay Jewelry
- McClelland Barclay bio at Papillon Gallery
- McClelland Barclay at IMDb