Illustrating the Holidays: Artist-Designed Christmas Cards from the Mid-Twentieth Century
9 artifacts in this set
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Christmas Card with 1948 Image of Norman Rockwell's "Santa and his Helpers," 1953
Christmas card
Hallmark Cards, Inc. commissioned Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) to produce a series of Christmas cards from 1946 to 1957. The sentimental imagery depicted scenes of an idealized Christmas. In this card, a group of industrious elves helps an exhausted (and sleeping) St. Nick finish a toy to be delivered on Christmas morning.
Christmas Card, "The Shepherd," 1954
Christmas card
Tyrus Wong (1910-2016) came to America from China with his father in 1919. Wong studied to become an artist and worked in a variety of media. He worked briefly for Disney, creating the now-famous atmospheric backgrounds for Bambi. Later, Wong worked as a production illustrator for Warner Brothers. In the 1950s, he began designing Christmas cards -- and was successful at it. This design sold over one million copies.
"With Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season," 1952
Christmas card
Saul Steinberg (1914-1999), a Romanian-born US immigrant, had a multifaceted artistic career, exhibiting his works in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. He is best remembered for his humorous, whimsical line drawings created for the New Yorker magazine over more than six decades beginning in the 1940s. Steinberg was equally adept at design, producing advertisements and designing textiles and Christmas cards.
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Procession of Children with Candles, Art by Mary Blair for the Walt Disney Film "The Three Caballeros," 1945
Christmas card
Designer and color stylist Mary Blair (1911-1978) was known for her colorful, vibrant, and imaginative style. In 1940, she began working for Walt Disney Studios, where she became a favorite of Walt Disney. Blair worked on several Disney films and projects, including designing the "It's a Small World" attraction for the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. This card features art from the Las Posadas segment of the 1944 film The Three Caballeros.
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Christmas Card, "From Us to You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," 1952
Christmas card
Charlotte Steiner (1898-1981), author and illustrator of children's books, emigrated to the United States from Europe in 1938. A year later, she began a more than thirty-year career creating stories that enchanted an audience of preschool learners. Steiner also illustrated Christmas cards, designing this one in the early 1950s.
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"An Old Fashioned Christmas and a Happy Prosperous New Year," 1951
Christmas card
George Twok Aden Ahgupuk (1911-2011), an Inupiat artist from Shishmaref, Alaska, began his artistic career during a several-month hospital stay in 1934. Ahgupuk's artwork of Native Alaskan life became widely known years later through a developing friendship with fellow artist and illustrator Rockwell Kent, who encouraged him to illustrate Christmas cards. Ahgupuk did and then explored other commercial ventures that documented native life.
Forest in Winter, 1956
Christmas card
The artist Eyvind Earle (1916-2000) is best known for his work on the 1959 Walt Disney Studios animated film Sleeping Beauty, but he also designed Christmas cards. Earle began producing cards in his early twenties, selling them through his own company. Later, Earle joined the American Artists Group and continued designing Christmas cards. He would produce more than 800 designs throughout his career.
"Merry Christmas!," 1955
Christmas card
Gwen Frostic (1906-2001) was an artist, author, poet, entrepreneur, and nature lover. In the 1940s, Frostic bought a printing press and started a printing business doing commercial jobs, but most notably, she carefully carved linoleum blocks to create nature-inspired works of art. Frostic created block prints for the next fifty years that graced her books, note cards, and greeting cards.
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"A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," 1954
Christmas card
Robert Chesley Osborn (1904-1994) was a cartoonist, illustrator, and author. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and created the military misfit, Dilbert, who always violated safety rules. His satirical political cartoons--found in LIFE, Fortune, Look, and other national magazines--featured Presidents and members of Congress. Osborn's humorous illustrations also graced the fronts of Christmas cards.