Drop Kicker (1912) - J.C. Leyendecker Art Print

Fine Art Prints

Forget cheap reproductions and printable posters. Only the best will do. Velvety matte fine art paper (warm white, archival-grade, 200gsm) with bold, vibrant, non-toxic pigment inks. 

High-definition print lab techniques give you sharper details, deeper saturation and true-to-life tones.

The matte surface keeps glare down and archival-grade materials mean the colors you fall for stay vivid for decades.

Framed Fine Art Prints

Your print arrives framed and ready to hang, so it goes straight from the box to your wall.

Chevron cut wooden frames make a timeless statement in three distinctive colors: black, white and natural.

Each frame is made of sustainably sourced FSC® certified European knotless pine, finished with ultra-clear perspex glaze that’s lighter than glass and shatter-resistant.

Float Framed Canvas Prints

Luscious artist-grade cotton canvas, hand-stretched and finely textured, gives every detail depth and precision. Its natural white surface catches light and color with striking clarity.

A precisely measured floating frame leaves a slim gap around the canvas, so it seems to hover with a sleek, gallery-worthy effect.

Your choice of a black, white or natural frame: all made from sustainably sourced FSC® certified European knotless pine.

Giclée Printing

Autumn, 1912. Football had just rewritten its rulebook, raising the touchdown to six points. In J.C. Leyendecker's Drop Kicker, a young man ignores the arithmetic. Cradling a tawny leather ball at arm's length, this vintage football art print catches the varsity man weighing the ball like a jeweler weighs a pearl. His jaw is set. Pomade gives his hair a lacquered sheen. Every knuckle glows ochre.

The drop kick was a prized weapon in early American football. A kicker let the ball fall and struck it on the half-bounce toward the uprights. His vermilion sweater bunches at the elbow. Knit ribs catch light in slashes of cadmium and brick.

German-born and trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Leyendecker shaped his sports illustration with a fencer's economy. Chalk-white strokes crosshatch the backdrop. Two ink-black bars hover overhead like crossbars glimpsed from the sideline. His monogram signature burns orange in the lower corner.

Norman Rockwell grew up worshipping his Saturday Evening Post covers. The idealized masculinity here carries a tender charge in that lowered gaze. Queer collectors have read it for a century. Hang this vintage sports art print with a lover's patience. A homoerotic gaze forever on the ball.