Comments on: Haddon Sundblom

By: MustafaJackson

MustafaJackson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:02:53 +0000

Excellent article. I am a huge fan of Mr. Sundblum.

By: Charley Parker

Charley Parker — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:11:22 +0000

Peter,

Thanks.

And my best wishes back to everyone for the new year!

By: Charley Parker

Charley Parker — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:53:49 +0000

Kevin,

Right you are. It’s surprising how much these illustrators have become part of the visual texture of our lives without breaking into our immediate consciousness.

By: Charley Parker

Charley Parker — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:51:42 +0000

Dan, Yes, you're correct. But as I pointed out in my post on Illustrators' Visions of Santa Claus last year, Nast got us a good part of the way there, but not quite all the way. I'm not sure how many people would recognize Nast's Santa as the "modern version", which is what I'm crediting Leyendecker with, but he certainly contributed greatly to the creation of the modern concept.

By: Charley Parker

Charley Parker — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:44:31 +0000

Sid, Thanks for the kind words and good wishes. Other readers should check out Sid Leavitt's Readers sand Writers Blog.

By: peter

peter — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:26:01 +0000

Just echoing Sid’s comment, Charley – thanks for a solid year of brilliant choices and articles. Looking forward to seeing what you have for us in 2008!

By: Kevin Turcotte

Kevin Turcotte — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:58:43 +0000

Great stuff — don’t forget Haddon Sunbloom also gave us that other icon of a religiously inclined, smiling white haired man — the Quaker Oats man! – Kevin

By: Dan van Benthuysen

Dan van Benthuysen — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:00:43 +0000

But before Leyendecker and Rockwell there was Thomas Nast, Haprper’s Weekly cartoonist and newspaper artist otherwise known as the creator of such images as the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey and the Tammany Hall Tiger. Nast took Santa from being a thin, grim, old man, not unlike father time, and made him fat and jolly in the post Civil War era when Clement Moore’s Night Before Christmas became popular.

By: Sid Leavitt

Sid Leavitt — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:42:58 +0000

Well, at the risk of violating a registered trademark, the pause that refreshes me is reading your blog every day.

I don’t know how you find time to do all your excellent research, writing and posting, but I’m glad you do.

Best wishes for the holidays and the new year.