Illustrating the Holidays
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Artists have illustrated holiday cards since Henry Cole sent the first modern-day Christmas card in 1843. Over the next century, card publishers hired artists to design festive holiday works--many artists went unrecognized. However, by the mid-twentieth century, American greeting card companies actively promoted cards designed by well-known artists. This sampling showcases the stylistic range of notable twentieth-century artists and illustrators.
Christmas Card with 1948 Image of Norman Rockwell's "Santa and his Helpers," 1953
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.
View ArtifactChristmas Card, "The Shepherd," 1954
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.
View Artifact"With Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday Season," 1952
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.
View Artifact"Season's Greetings," 1953
Doris Lee (1905-1983) painted scenes from everyday American life. Her works incorporated flattened shapes and simplified forms inspired by her interest in and collections of American folk art. Associated American Artists, an organization that made fine art prints available to the public at a reasonable price, contracted with Hallmark to create this Christmas card of Lee's work.
View ArtifactChristmas Card, 1953
In addition to illustrating nearly 100 children's books, renowned American artist Tasha Tudor (1915-2008) created thousands of drawings for the Irene Dash Greeting Card Company. Featuring traditional 19th-century scenes crafted in soft colors, her holiday greeting cards evoke warm seasonal sentiments. This postwar Christmas card typifies Tudor's detailed, enchanting, and popular illustrations.
View ArtifactProcession of Children with Candles, Art by Mary Blair for the Walt Disney Film "The Three Caballeros," 1945
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.
View Artifact"Season's Greeting and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year," 1952
Margaret Thomas "Tammis" Keefe (1913-1960) created lively, whimsical designs for printed textiles. She is renowned for her scarves and handkerchiefs sold at high-end retailers. But Keefe also created designs for various household fabrics like linen kitchen towels, tablecloths, and placemats with matching napkins. Her brightly colored, playful designs also found their way onto glassware, dishware, playing cards, and greeting cards.
View ArtifactChristmas Card, "From Us to You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," 1952
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.
View Artifact"Just for You," 1949
Marjorie Cooper (1910-1999) studied advertising at the Massachusetts Art School and sculpture at the Copley Society. Cooper designed cards for Rust Craft Greeting Card Company from 1934 to 1958, then later contracted with Gibson Greeting Cards. She also illustrated children's books under the pen name Elizabeth Webbe. Her Christmas cards usually featured quaint cherubs, small animals, Santa Clauses, or religious scenes.
View Artifact"Season's Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year," 1945
Artist and illustrator Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) began taking classes at William Merritt Chase's art school in the early 1900s. He took up wood engraving around 1920 and developed a modern graphic style that was instantly recognizable and widely emulated. Kent was a member of the American Artist Group, an organization established to popularize contemporary American art, and he encouraged the group to introduce artist-designed Christmas cards.
View Artifact"An Old Fashioned Christmas and a Happy Prosperous New Year," 1951
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.
View ArtifactForest in Winter, 1956
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.
View Artifact"Merry Christmas!," 1955
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.
View Artifact"Deep Winter," 1946
Dale Nichols (1904-1995) grew up in a small town in Nebraska and is best known for his depictions of rural landscapes. Nichols moved away at an early age but repeatedly returned to the farm life of his youth in his paintings and illustrations. This Christmas card produced by the American Artist Group exemplifies his work.
View Artifact"A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," 1954
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.
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