24kVintageArt Blog

Ellen Clapsaddle Postcards

2006-12-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Ellen Clapsaddle was the most prolific of the penny postcard artists from the early 1900s. Her postcard illustrations brought an innocent charm and beauty to the greetings postcard industry. Her first postcard was published in 1906 by the Wolf Company, which was a subsidiary of the International Art Company. Shortly after, she became their sole artist and designer.

Her postcards were so successful that Wolf sent her to Germany to work directly with their engravers. The postcard industry was enjoying unprecedented success, so she and the Wolf brothers invested heavily in German postcard firms.

Sadly, duringWorld War I, many postcard factories were destroyed and along with them, almost all of her original artwork and prints. Her investments in the German postcard firms became worthless and she lost everything. Wolf found her in Germany, where she was wandering the streets, and brought her back to New York, but her health was so poor that she could no longer work. He supported her as best he could until he died. Alone and destitute, Ellen Clapsaddle passed away in January 1934.

Ellen left a rich legacy of some of the most beautiful penny postcards ever made by a female illustrator. Rich colors, beautiful detail and charming children are the hallmark of her vintage postcard illustrations.

We are continually in the process of adding to our Ellen Clapsaddle collections, scanning and restoring them as high resolution graphics, which are available as printable greeting cards and will soon be available as gift items such as prints, mugs, calendars and so on.

Many of Ellen's Santa Claus postcards are featured in our Vintage Santa Claus Gallery at: http://www.24kvintageart.com/vintage-santa-claus/

They are also in our printable greeting card collections which you can access through our member subscription services. You can read more about it here: http://www.24kvintageart.com/membership.html

We also feature her artwork throughout our Christmas Countdown series, which runs from December 1st to January 6th, which is online at: http://www.24kvintageart.com/christmascountdown/

p.s. The children decorating the Christmas tree is the featured postcard for December 13th, "Christmas Tree Ornaments." Here's the direct link to that page: http://www.24kvintageart.com/christmascountdown/christmas13.html

Vintage Santa Claus Greetings

2006-12-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas 100 years ago flooded the post offices throughout the world with penny postcards sending Christmas greetings to friends and loved ones. It was all the rage.

Santa Claus was the favorite postcard subject at Christmas time and he appeared in all manner of poses, colors, clothing and could be found driving vintage autos, hot air balloons and of course, his reindeer sleigh.

By the 1930's Santa Claus had become our modern red coated jolly fat man, bellowing ho ho ho, flying through the air and deposting presents down fireplaces. Before that, he knocked on windows, came to the door, arrived with angels, and could be found sneaking peeks at little children to see if they had been naughty or nice.

Nor was he always jolly. Sometimes he was downright stern and scary looking and other times he looked like a gentle old man, perhaps a monk out for a stroll in the snow.

Now you can take a visit down Santa Claus lane and to the past times of Santa Claus. You can see over 150 vintage postcards that have been restored and enhanced in the Vintage Santa Claus gallery.

Here's the URL: http://www.24kvintageart.com/vintage-santa-claus/

You can also download high resolution greeting cards featuring the vintage postcards and print from your own computer. They're really unique and they are gorgeous.

Here's the URL to see samples of the greeting cards:
http://www.24kvintageart.com/vintage-santa-claus/free-printable-cards.html

Enjoy and have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Currier and Ives New Release

2006-12-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

We just got word from our graphics team that our Currier and Ives vintage collection is scheduled for the release of an additional 400 images starting within the week.

Currier and Ives published over 7,500 different prints between 1835 and 1895. They commissioned artists to paint scenes of America, steamships, tall sail ships, railroads, horses, children, and portraits of people, great and small, at work, at play and at home.

Once the artist had sketched or painted a piece, they would copy it onto stones with grease pencil and print out black and white prints. Then they went to the painting line, where each woman on the assembly added a different color. They weren't perfect and they weren't fine art, but they were charming and interesting and most of all inexpensive. The people of the Victorian era bought millions of them and they wound up just about everywhere - in homes, barbershops, stores, and in magazines and newspapers.

In 1930, Frederic A. Conningham, compiled and published a listing of known Currier & Ives prints. The last edition was issued in 1983 and the list of Currier & Ives prints had grown to nearly 7,000. Conningham assigned a number to each print for reference, which collectors call the Conningham number. You'll sometimes see a citation such as "C: 1237" in a Currier and Ives gallery or book. That's the Conningham number.

Currier and Ives print reproductions have once again become popular, for they have lost none of their charm with time.

Our growing collection of Currier & Ives prints have been restored and enhanced, and in many cases hand colored just as they were in the 19th century.

Each print in our online gallery is titled with the original Currier and Ives title and publication date, plus the Conningham number and description for each print. The prints are organized by subject matter, with links to sites where you can purchase them online. We plan to create desktop wallpaper and printable greeting cards from the prints that are popular in 2007.

You can visit our Currier & Ives Gallery online at:
http://www.24kvintageart.com/currier-and-ives/index.html

Vintage Desktop Wallpaper - Christmas Maskers

2006-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Vintage Postcard
"Christmas Maskers"

This vintage postcard is circa 1900, and is now available as desktop wallpaper.

Here's the URL: Download Wallpaper Page

(Just scroll down the page until you see the image, then choose your monitor size)

Vintage Christmas Bell Desktop Wallpaper

2006-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Vintage Postcard "Christmas Bell"

This vintage postcard is circa 1906, and is now available as desktop wallpaper.

Here's the URL:
Download Wallpaper Page

(Just scroll down the page until you see the image, then choose your monitor size)

Welcome!

2006-12-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 24kVintageArt.com Blog!

We'll be posting news about the website and we'll let you know when we publish new vintage postcards we've restored as printable greeting cards, desktop wallpaper, prints, clip art, backgrounds and scrapbooking graphics.

We specialize in vintage postcards, prints and illustrations from the Victorian and Edwardian periods - the 19th century and early 20th century.

You can also use this blog to contact us, make suggestions and leave comments.

Enjoy!

Currier and Ives Desktop Wallpaper

2006-12-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

"Christmas Morn"

by Currier and Ives

Please feel free to download our latest vintage desktop wallpaper addition to your desktop!

Here's the URL:

Wallpaper Download Page

(Scroll down the page to find the download links)