Ellen Clapsaddle Postcards

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