Thursday, December 23, 2010

Visions of Santa

Yes, Virginia, before Haddon Sundblom's portrayal of Santa, Santa was almost never rendered the same twice. Every artist had their own vision, and some were rather . . . peculiar.

Some were come hither . . .

Some were grandfatherly . . .

Some were gaunt . . .

Some were color blind . . .

Some were from the land of Oz . . .

Some from the holy land . . .

Some came from deep in the forest . . .

Some were kindly old eccentrics . . .

Some were definitely from the far north . . .

Some, Yoda-like they were . . .

Some were drawn by Mary Engelbreit, long before she was born . . .

Some were reindeer wranglers . . .

Some were bound to the ground . . .

Some gave up reindeer altogether . . .

Some were modernized . . .

and were in a hurry . . .

Some were blatantly commercial . . .

Some were secretive and sly . . .

Some were downright scary looking. . .

and some were a child's worst nightmare . . .


I, for one, thank Haddon Sundblom for his contribution to the mythos.


4 comments:

Rip Jagger said...

Beautiful collection of images! Thanks and have a Merry Christimas!

Rip Off

Annie said...

Hi Thom,
I enjoyed this article and all the wonderful images of Santa. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

Dark Tea Times said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this post as well as the preceding essay. Thank you for putting so much trouble into writing your blog. It is a pleasure to read and to view.

And I love those New Yorker covers.

Rebecca said...

That last one is begging to go on my Christmas card.