Romantic Skate

While searching the archives for holiday covers, we’ve come across many joyful Santas, bustling shoppers, and even post-holiday scenes. So, it’s not often that we find a romantic Christmas cover in the bunch, but this 1937 illustration by Manning de Villeneuve Lee (1894-1980) fills the bill admirably.

At the time this sentimental cover was created, the artist and his wife (Eunice Celeste Sandoval) had been married for 25 years. Together they created children’s books; Manning Lee did the illustration and his wife wrote them (under the pen name Tina Lee). They also created artwork for Jack and Jill, a children’s magazine from the same publisher as The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines.

Main Street at Christmas

From the 1920s through the 1940s, Helck was a successful magazine illustrator and advertising artist, writes Timothy Helck, a grandson of the artist, who maintains a website dedicated to his grandfather. The website shows examples of Peter Helck’s work, including complex industrial scenes for National Steel and beautifully executed automotive paintings done for Esquire magazine in 1944.

Helck created two other covers for Country Gentleman; both, appropriately designed for the rural American magazine, were farm scenes. He did 20 illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, and many of these were for fictional stories on auto racing. Helck, who grew up in the late 1890s and had followed auto racing since its infancy, authored and co-wrote several books and numerous articles on the subject. Some are still available today, including 1961’s The Checkered Flag and Great Auto Races and Grand Prizes from 1976. The Grand Prix History website gives an interesting overview of Helck’s lifelong involvement with the sport.

Drum for Tommy

Norman Rockwell did 35 Country Gentleman covers between 1917 and 1922. One reason he stopped in 1922 was the high demand for his work, a heady situation for an artist only in his mid-20s. In addition to The Saturday Evening Post covers (between 6 and 18 per year during the 1920s) and inside illustrations for Ladies’ Home Journal, Rockwell had a growing stable of advertising clients, including Interwoven Socks, Jell-O, and Edison Mazda Lamps, among several others. In the 1920s, he also began illustrating calendars for Boy Scouts of America, the beginning of a 50-year relationship with that organization.

Although his Santa covers for The Saturday Evening Post (which started the year after this 1921 cover) became classics, this jolly old elf is less well known. It is the only Country Gentleman Rockwell Santa.

Baby’s First Christmas

Artist Haddon Sundblom (1899-1976), who was born in Michigan to a Swedish family, was best known for the classic Santa Claus he painted for Coca-Cola ads from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was also well recognized for pin-up art in calendars. In fact, his last assignment was a Playboy cover in 1972.

Because of the popularity of his later work, it is easy to forget Sundblom did anything in his pre-Coca-Cola days. But his earlier work, like this 1929 Country Gentleman cover, “Baby’s First Christmas,” should be remembered for its impressionistic style. His technique was inspired by, among others, artists Howard Pyle and John Singer Sargent, and is described on Leif Peng’s blog as “first stroke,” using the fewest strokes possible to depict a subject. Peng shows several beautiful examples of Sundblom’s paintings using this technique.

Simeon and the Christ Child

In the Gospel of Luke, God promised Simeon, a righteous and devout man, that before his death, he would see the Christ child. Simeon took the child into his arms and blessed him. From Rembrandt to children’s illustrators, the biblical scene of Simeon and the Christ child has had many manifestations. We recently discovered this image in our archives from the December 1921 Ladies’ Home Journal.

This beautiful rendition of Simeon is by Marion Boyd Allen (1862-1941). Also well established as a portrait painter, Allen preferred the vertical format to horizontal, even for nature scenes. The website McDougall Fine Arts shares an intriguing story about Allen’s landscape painting.

Centering the Christmas Tree by Steven Dohanos

I was delighted by an e-mail recently from Betsy Norfleet who said her parents were the models for this 1951 cover. This was by artist Stevan Dohanos, and the family would like to know what happened to the original painting. If you know, drop us a line and we’ll pass it on. The models were Betty and George Norfleet of Westport, Connecticut. Betsy and her siblings “all have framed copies of the cover in our homes and I keep mine front and center year-round!” Poor George: first he miscalculated the length and had to get out the saw, and now he’s being scratched alive trying to center this tree. And you know the darn thing will just lean again once it’s all decorated.

Tree Love by Constantin Alajalov

There seems to be a slight miscommunication here. The Mrs. decided to surprise hubby by getting a tree set up and hubby decided, “I know! I’ll surprise her by bringing home a tree.” I wonder what the neighbors will think when he takes a tree away before Christmas. Perhaps he can donate it to a family that hasn’t “surprised” each other yet.

Lighting Christmas Tree by JJ Gould and Guernsey Moore

The old German carol continues: “O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Thy candles shine so brightly!” Now we know what the lyrics mean. Christmas trees date to ancient times. Christmas trees on Saturday Evening Post covers date to around 1900. A 1902 cover shows a lady lighting the candles on the tree, a practice we definitely do not recommend. How did they keep the tree from catching fire? Well, never mind. It does make a lovely scene.

Topping the Tree by John Falter

Let’s hope dad doesn’t become an angel in his attempt to place one on the tree. This 1957 cover by artist John Falter should serve as a reminder as you’re looking for the perfect tree this season – not too tall!

Tree in Town Square by Steven Dohanos

A bigger project is the tree in the town square from artist Dohanos in 1948. People are aware that artists are rather, er, atypical, but the summer folks walking by in shorts on Martha’s Vineyard that summer must have been baffled when they peeked over the artist’s shoulder. The Edgartown Town Hall that Dohanos wanted has his backdrop was shimmering in the heat, but the artist was adding snow and a large Christmas tree to the scene.

Trimming the Tree by George Hughes

In June 1949, artist George Hughes tramped into the Vermont woods, cut down this tree, and dragged it home and decorated it. We told you artists were rather atypical. Although his children loved having Christmas in June, the artist had to work fast. Summer heat was causing the needles to drop and the tree was turning into a hat rack. The resulting painting, however, is one we can all identify with.