A Brief History of an American Santa
Some of you may remember Washington Irving as the American author who gave us Legend of Sleepy Hollow, he also wrote about Santa Claus based on the Dutch immigrants and their traditions in New York. Thomas Nast, a famous illustrator of the 19th century, gave us a look at Santa Claus as an elvish looking creature who could fit down a chimney. I've been doing some drawings of this pagan based character and I like the idea of a mischievous little elf dropping off gifts in the night in return for some milk and cookies.
The Santa we know and see represented in American culture is due to the Coca-Cola Co. who portrayed Santa Claus as a more robust human character. So I've been playing with differentversions of the man in red and I prefer the elvish looking monstrosity, what are your thoughts? I'd like to add some color to some of these when I get my act together.
posted by Kirk at
11:23 PM
2 Comments:
The top 2 Santas have a Grinch-like appeal and the second or middle one looks very much like a Palmer Cox brownie. Much as I like elves and pixies, I still prefer the traditional fluffy kindly "American" Santa.
I'll check out that artist, thanks.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home