McClelland Barclay

McClelland Barclay (9 May 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 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 St. Louis in 1891, Barclay's mother died when he was 17. He was sent to Washington, DC, to live with his aunt and uncle, Edward and Lucy McClelland, after whom he had been named. He studied first at the Art Institute of Chicago, and later at the Art Students League in New York City, where he studied figure drawing with George Bridgman and illustration with Thomas Fogarty. Barclay also attended the St. Louis School of Fine Arts (now the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis); there he studied under the school's founder, Halsey Ives. He was also a student in the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Barclay's images were selected for use by art directors for the nation's most popular periodicals including Collier's, Country Gentleman, Redbook, Pictorial Review, Coronet, Country Life, The Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, and a host of movie magazines.

Promoted to Lt. Commander, Barclay worked on further assignments until July 18, 1943, when he was reported as missing in action. The USS LST-342 he was aboard was torpedoed in the Solomon Islands.

Institutions with his works Pritzker Military Museum & Library U.S. Navy Corewell Health Downtown, Grand Rapids, MI