Drawing of the Day: The Three Kings, c. 1965

The Three Kings
Marion Wilson
Circa 1965
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Created around 1965, this drawing of colored ink depicts the tradition of the Three Kings.

The piece is the work of Marion Wilson (born, 1933) whose work typifies the style of 1960s graphic design. Completed in pencil, paint, inks and ball point pens, the drawing was made by Wilson as a design for a Christmas card published by the Gordon Fraser Gallery. 

Object of the Day: Razzleberry Dressing

Click image to enlarge.

There’s something about this chromolithograph which puts me in mind of “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” While the illustrator seems to have relied on mid-Twentieth Century style, it simply can’t be. The card—likely a giveaway for Christmas—dates to at least the 1890s.

This serves as an interesting reminder that the artistic styles of the late 1950s and early 1960s were heavily influenced by Victorian designs. Think about it. Popular art from the 1950s often involves retellings of patterns and proportions which were found in Nineteenth Century popular art. Even the fashionable colors were similar—just combined in different ways.

We could take this back even further and look at the ways in which Victorian popular arts were influenced by the Rococo, and, by Mannerism, etc. But, we don’t need to do that. After all, we’ll have the brightest Christmas, the very lightest Christmas, a Christmas that’s more glorious than grand. 

Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again. 

Print of the Day: "May Christmas Bring Delight," 1850

The Victoria & Albert Museum


Here's a pretty Christmas card from 1850 which shows that mistletoe has been part of popular culture for a long time. In fact, the tradition of kissing beneath the mistletoe originates in an old Norse practice of enemies calling a truce under mistletoe--sealing their pledge with a kiss. How sweet. The kiss symbolized an exchange of souls. Even sweeter. In addition to representing peace and reconciliation, mistletoe was thought to have medicinal and healing properties.

In this chromolithograph, we see two elfin figures--one donning a blue "bobble hat," engaged in a kiss. An inscription "May Christmas Bring Delight" is incorporated into the design as each of the small figures appears to be both floating above and supported by the oversized sprigs of mistletoe.

Father Christmas Through the Ages: Christmas to Greet You, c. 1890

The Victoria & Albert Museum


Whether you call him Father Christmas, Santa Claus or Old Saint Nicholas, you have a set idea of what the jolly gift-giver looks like. Kris Kringle takes different forms in each country.

Here, we see a classic representation of Father Christmas, as he is known in the U.K. This greeting card is a charming masterpiece of embossing, chromolithography and block printing. Produced in Britain in the late Nineteenth Century, it bears the atypical message, "Xmas to Greet You."

Object of the Day: A Victorian Valentine

Our Victorian forebears knew how to make a good Valentine. There’s a reason, after all, that most of our current Valentine’s Day imagery has decidedly Victorian overtones—cupids and lace and glittering hearts. 

I found this Victorian valentine last month in an antique store and knew it had to be added to my collection of ephemera. Not only is it a masterpiece of Nineteenth Century printing—gorgeous chromolithography and die-cutting, it’s the sort of novelty which made these Victorian greetings cars so special. It’s a pop-up. By pulling on the red tab atop the greeting, you can expand the card into a three-dimensional love note of all of the most romantic imagery of the day…and now.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A New Year Card, 1894

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The front of this handsome greeting card from 1894 depicts a girl in French Revolutionary costume, with a bicorne hat, blue coat and pink skirt. The card is printed with the words: 

"A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND ALL."

This card is signed "With Julia's love to dear Amy Xmas /94.” It comes from a collection of cards given to the V&A by the mother of the “Amy” in question—Amy Piercey (b. 1882). The card was printed in Germany for export to the English market.

Drawing of the Day: The Three Kings, c. 1965

The Three Kings
Marion Wilson
Circa 1965
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Created around 1965, this drawing of colored ink depicts the tradition of the Three Kings.

The piece is the work of Marion Wilson (born, 1933) whose work typifies the style of 1960s graphic design. Completed in pencil, paint, inks and ball point pens, the drawing was made by Wilson as a design for a Christmas card published by the Gordon Fraser Gallery. 

Object of the Day: Razzleberry Dressing

Click image to enlarge.

There’s something about this chromolithograph which puts me in mind of “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” While the illustrator seems to have relied on mid-Twentieth Century style, it simply can’t be. The card—likely a giveaway for Christmas—dates to at least the 1890s.

This serves as an interesting reminder that the artistic styles of the late 1950s and early 1960s were heavily influenced by Victorian designs. Think about it. Popular art from the 1950s often involves retellings of patterns and proportions which were found in Nineteenth Century popular art. Even the fashionable colors were similar—just combined in different ways.

We could take this back even further and look at the ways in which Victorian popular arts were influenced by the Rococo, and, by Mannerism, etc. But, we don’t need to do that. After all, we’ll have the brightest Christmas, the very lightest Christmas, a Christmas that’s more glorious than grand. 

Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again. 

Object of the Day: A Gloriously Gloomy Greetings Card

Click image for larger size.

This week, since Christmas is just seven days away, I thought I’d sift through my collection of Victorian ephemera to find trade or greetings cards made for Christmas. I managed to find several which you’ve not seen before. 

This one could either be a birthday card or a Christmas card. I find it quite attractive, to be honest. But, then, I like the funereal stiffness of some of the odd designs of the 1870s-1880s. Meant to be dignified and elegant, the card features a black ground adorned with Forget-Me-Nots and lilies of the valley. Combine that with the gothic type face, and the overall effect is more morbid than merry, but that’s part of its appeal. 

The message reads: 

On this day, 

Dear to all who love thee, 

May the gifts we pray 

Rain from heav’n above thee. 

I’ve wondered if this was meant as some sort of memorial or anniversary of some time in the life of a lost loved one. But, the implication that heaven is above “thee,” doesn’t auger well for that. So, I’ve concluded that it’s just a somewhat gloomy message of affection. Slightly dreary though it may be, the chromolithograph is quite handsome and whoever drew the flowers did a very fine job. The best part is the stunning contrast of the colors—still brilliant after all these decades. 

So, whether this was a Christmas wish or a birthday greeting, now, it’s a reminder to all of us that beauty is everlasting.

Print of the Day: The Morning Glory Greetings Card, c. 1865

Greetings Card
Germany
1850-1875
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made in Germany between 1850 and 1875, this attractive greetings card depicts female figures dressed in flower costumes, probably meant to represent the morning glory.

In the Victorian “Language of Flowers,” the morning glory suggested affection, and, so, these young ladies have been depicted in poses which similarly allude to affection. The card is part of a series which personifies flowers, assigning each the characteristics of the emotion which they were thought to represent.

This chromolithograph is embossed and features the paper-lace edging which was a hallmark of these German cards of the era.

Object of the Day: A Fan-Shaped Card, 1891

Click image above to enlarge

Scrapbooking, as we know, is not just the modern pastime of craft-inclined people, it was the hobby of many a Victorian lady. In fact, the very principles of scrapbooking developed during the reign of Queen Victoria. The term arises from the paper scraps which could be purchased for this and other decorative purposes. The trade cards at which we’ve been looking often found their way into scrapbooks as did cartes de visite and cabinet cards as well as souvenirs, ribbons, tickets, programs, notes, etc.

In addition to the scraps which were sold, then—like today—little decorative paper shapes were available to jazz up your scrapbook. This card may, in fact, be one of them. However, I think that this delicate fan-shape owes more to careful hand-cutting with scissors than it does being cut with a die. Often, little scraps—like the one we see mounted on this fan-shaped card—were displayed on these fancy shapes in order to frame them within the scrapbook.

Personally, I think this was the handiwork of someone with better scissor-skills than I possess. It has all of the hallmarks of being handmade. To begin with, the fact that the paper seems to be reclaimed from something else indicates to me that this is the clever work of some long-gone young lady. I’m thinking that she—whoever she was—made this as a mount for the pretty little scrap that we still see on it. She even signed the back. I believe she presented this to a friend—as was the habit of the time—who, then, mounted it into her own scrapbook.

The colorful scrap is just as brilliant as the day this unknown girl glued it to the fan. A robin—against a bed of flowers—holds a card in his beak which reads:

May you be as happy 
As little Robin red 
Your heart aglow
     with sunshine 
E’en when summer’s fled! 

That’s very sweet. Isn’t it? 

Let’s look at the back. It is signed:

Mrs. T.K. Cushman 

     Oct. 15, 1891

Object of the Day: A Card with a Hidden Motto

Click image to enlarge.

This little greetings card is actually about the size of a calling card. I’d date it to circa 1860. This clever little card features an applied, embossed chromolithograph of two putti holding a gold frame (printed with metallic ink). To the right of this applied decoration, the words “Hidden Motto” are printed. And, within the frame we see the words “Sincere Affection.”

However, when this was first made and given in affection, the applied decoration featured a little die-cut door which folded back. This round cut-out would have covered the center of the frame. When the decoration was applied, it was done so over the words “Sincere Affection” so that, when the little door was opened, the “hidden motto” could be revealed and a secret crush could be demonstrated. 

Long ago, who knows when, the little door was ripped off, but we still get the idea. I like to think that this card once made someone very happy…and maybe blush a little.