Artists' Christmas Cards

Herbert Bayer

Good luck and best wishes to all those who have been following my various posts during this last year. It has been a hard year to process, what with the continuing war in Ukraine, Gaza, the crisis in Syria, the escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a worsening crisis in Sudan, the tragedy of Afghanistan, famine in Ethiopia and civil war in Yemen. Elections have been held on both sides of the Atlantic and with any change of government comes an associated uncertainty as to what the future will bring. Let us find hope that things will pan out for the best next year. 

Christmas is a festival that celebrates birth. A birth is always uplifting as it offers the expectations associated with new life. It suggests a new beginning, a chance for a new human to become something wonderful. 

Herbert Bayer: 1941

This image of hands by Bayer, is perhaps due a revisit in these troubled times. The fingers are stained with blood and yet also tipped in virginal snow. We are seen by hands that have had a busy year, human kindness has been in short supply, but the point about a mid-winter festival is that spring is coming and under the snow new growth is ready to emerge. Let's hope the white tipped fingers are a sign of coming peace. 

I have chosen another motley bunch of artists this year, each of whom was either persuaded or decided to make an effort and come up with a Christmas card, which shows how the festive season impacts on artists of all sorts, whether they are abstractionists, conceptualists or realists, all wanting to celebrate the yearly ritual of the winter solstice in one way or other. I particularly like the way that Jacques Lipchitz makes a meal of the word 'FROM', the 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' part seems as if it is a bit of an afterthought, as if he started by being asked to write out a label for a present, and then perhaps his wife Berthe Lipchitz, (the Russian poet Berthe Kitrosse) said it wasn't Christmassy enough, so he added an attempt at a tree, which failed, so he just added a jaunty on its side 'Merry'.

Jacques Lipchitz: 1947

Alfonso Assorio is the only artist in this small collection who you feel was actually a practicing Christian, who needed to find an image that carried his feelings about his faith. He had this to say about religion; “Religion must aim to inspire awe, to awe man with the splendour of his existence. By a set of unexpected juxtapositions, it must put you in a state of realisation of how splendid things can be, even if they are horrible.” His card does seem still appropriate for a time of war and strife. 

Alfonso Assorio

Max Weber was Polish Jewish and his 'Best Christmas and a Happy New Year' signing of his woodcut, suggests that he has by now fully assimilated himself into American culture. His image that is designed to channel the visual power of old European folk traditions, softened by a statement that could be found on countless millions of Christmas cards sent out every year. 

Max Weber: 1950

Nathan Gluck was Andy Warhol’s principle studio assistant from the early 1950s through to the mid-1960s, initially working in Warhol’s pre-Pop commercial art studio, he was with him as he evolved into the man who ran the Factory; so he was involved in Warhol's emergence from the world of graphics, into the world of fine art. For myself Gluck is a reminder that the differences between design and fine art are far less important than the similarities. In designing this Christmas card, Gluck is operating like a good graphic designer and a good fine artist. He brings together colour, texture and text in a neat idea. Every snow flake is supposed to be different, changing constantly as it encounters different conditions of humidity and vapour levels as it falls through the atmosphere, no one flake, ever experiencing exactly the same journey. Finger prints are also seen to be symbols of uniqueness.  By printing his finger prints off in white they become in effect falling snow. But putting these white blobs on a red background is the clever moment, as we are visually reminded of the white pom-poms that sit on the apex of a Santa hat. Year 62 opening with a snow fall that suggests a coming year of unique individual creativity, a year that will see Warhol produce both Campbell's Soup and Marilyn images. 

Nathan Gluck: 1962

Saturnalia was the Roman festival that took place around the same time as our current Christmas. The god Saturn taught humans how to sow seeds and harvest crops, and he emphasised the importance of peace to a society founded upon war; an idea that I'm sure the people of Syria would love to see taken up again. Saturn is an old God, in Greek myth he is Kronos, a Titan and father of Zeus. He is also a son of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky). Like Christmas, Saturnalia was celebrated by good eating, drinking, gift-giving, and having a good time. The small gifts that were exchanged were done to bring good luck and a bountiful harvest in the coming year, something that depended on the unfolding of the seasons, a process Kronos, as the God of time, was in control of. 
Gaia is of course still with us, central to the idea that the Earth is a self-regulating system of living organisms and the environments that host them; life on Earth being maintained by a complex system of interactions that both create and regulate the conditions that support it. Think of this post as a small gift that I offer to anyone who reads it, and as you hopefully accept this gift, I make a wish for the coming year:

I wish for a growing awareness of our world's fragility 

Of a dawning realisation that peace is a possibility, even in the hearts of those that hate

And that the Earth and all its creatures will survive to face a wonderful future

See also:

2014: Christmas cards

2018: Christmas cards

2019: Christmas cards

2020: Christmas cards

2021: Christmas cards

Life lines