The Christmas Artistry of Thomas Nast

The Christmas Artistry Of Thomas Nast

By John Rigdon

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The Christmas Artistry of Thomas Nast

The Christmas Artistry of Thomas Nast

by John Rigdon

2nd Printing DEC, 2011, 16/0/12/0

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The spirit of Christmas is universal, but the embodiment of Santa Claus, has a history that began, of all places, in New York.

For centuries, European artists had depicted St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Christmas, as a dour, Medieval bishop with a long, gray beard. It was not until 1863 that Thomas Nast introduced a far more endearing version of the character, one whose robust good cheer and imaginative North Pole-based mythology was both approachable and believable to children. Over the course of time, Nast would dramatically change all traditional conceptions of the Christmas

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benefactor, whose other "aliases" included Kris Kringle, Father Christmas and, later, Santa Claus.

Nast drew Santa Claus, whose name originated in Holland, as a plump, jovial man who smoked a long-stemmed pipe and wore buckled clogs. He kept a detailed book of "good boys and girls" and spent many hours answering stacks of pre-Christmas "wish" mail.

Using his own family as unsuspecting models, the artist was inspired to create enchanting scenes of children sleeping in armchairs as Santa made his stealthy entry via the chimney to deliver gifts. Sometimes the red-suited spirit's dramatic middle-of-thenight appearance would be witnessed by a throng of family pets, only too pleased to keep

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Santa's methods a secret. Other illustrations depicted children gleefully arranging gifts and treats for Santa at the fireplace hearth.

Nast acknowledged the influence of two Nineteenth Century American writers in the development of his Santa: Washington Irving and Clement C. Moore.

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Irving, famous for his tales The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, had written an article in 1809 called History of New York, which dealt with DutchAmerican traditions. It included a description of St. Nicholas as a tubby Dutch burgomaster who made his benevolent rounds on a fine white horse.

This planted the seed in Nast's mind to adapt the legendary Christmas character described by Irving, along more humorous, secular lines. With his formidable credentials as a first-rate artist and political satirist, Nast was eminently capable of undertaking the task. Few of his contemporaries would have dared tamper with anything quite so fragile as the faith of young children.

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Contents Introduction

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Table of Contents

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Biography of Thomas Nast

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Civil War Illustrations

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Post War Illustrations

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Interpretations of Nast’s Work

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At the beginning of the 19th century Santa Claus found himself in a quandary.

What should he wear?

Perhaps he should emphasize his title of St. Nicholas and appear as a stern bishop wearing robes? Or maybe go the other way and be seen as a clowning elf with a frock coat and pantaloons?

It was at this point that Thomas Nast, premier American political cartoonist of the 1800's, stepped in and gave Santa the wellneeded makeover that he still carries even today...

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Thomas Nast was born in Germany in 1840 where his father was a musician in the Ninth Regiment Bavarian Band. When he was still a child his family immigrated to New York City. As a recent immigrant he struggled with reading and writing English in school.

He gave up regular school at 13 to study art at the New York Academy of Design.

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At the age of 15, when family funds for the school were exhausted, Nast presented himself to Frank Leslie, owner of Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, hoping for a job.

Leslie, not wanting to be bothered with the boy, gave him a difficult assignment: sketching the crowd at the Christopher Street Ferry. Nast, however, turned in a drawing that was so fine that Leslie hired him on the spot.

On Monday morning he appeard once more before Mr. Leslie, who looked at the drawing and then at Nast.

"Do that alone?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

Leslie turned to his desk and took therefrom a half-page engraving block.

"Take this up-stairs," he said, "to Mr. Alfred Berghaus, our staff artist. He will

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show you how to whiten it. Then re-draw your picture on this block."

The boy went eagerly. Berghaus was a large, blond German with the arrogant, pompous manner of a Prussian officer.

"So Mr. Leslie send you, heh! And I was to show you how to viten? Vat does Mr. Leslie dink I am here for, heh? Well, here are the dings - I guess you can do it."

The boy took the things and went at it.

Berghaus watched his rather awkward attempts. Then, out of pity, or impatience, took the materials and completed the work.

"Now, he admonished, "make your drawing on dis block just der opposite as you have in on dot paper."

Carefully, and with great pains, the boy obeyed. When it was finished, he took the

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boxwood block back to Mr. Leslie, who looked at it, smiled, and said, "What do you make where you are?"

"It differs - sometimes twenty-five cents a week - sometimes six dollars."

"Will it average four dollars"" "Perhaps."

"Very Well, I will give you four dollars a week to come and draw for Leslie's Weekly."1

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Nast: His Period and his Pictures By Albert Bigelow Paine pg. 19.

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Nast later went to work for Harper’s Weekly.

Nast had just turned twenty-one when the war came. This early drawing shows Santa with the Confederate First National Flag in the background.

It was while working at Frank Leslie's that Thomas Nast learned the art of wood engraving. From 1855 to 1858, Thomas Nast worked for Frank Leslie's.

In 1858 Leslie's was in a financial pinch and several staff members were laid off -- Nast included. For a year Nast found employment in an art studio. In 1859 he tried his hand at a political cartoon. He rendered a drawing depicting the police scandal that was going

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on in the New York City police department.

Nast showed this drawing to the publisher of Harper's Weekly where it was accepted and published.

Nast worked at Harper's Weekly for only about one year before the New York Illustrated News offered to hire him at twice the salary he had been making at Harper's.

They wanted him to illustrate current events in Europe. Suddenly, Nast was noticed!

Faced with a salary that was hefty and an opportunity to travel the world, Nast hurriedly left Harper's Weekly. He now had the best of both worlds -- until it came to being paid that is. For a short time he got paid on a regular basis but soon was paid in script (an IOU). He never did collect any more actual money owed him by the New York Illustrated News. Stranded in London,

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Nast worked for the London Illustrated News to raise money to get back to New York.

When the Civil War broke out in America in 1861, Nast wanted to enlist but was assured by his friends that he could do more by covering the war as an illustrator. Nast, although still ashamed of leaving Harper's in a hurry just 2 years earlier, returned to them to seek employment. Harper's rehired him.

For the duration of the war, Nast spent his time illustrating many battles and scenes from the war. Nast did 55 signed engravings for Harper's Weekly between 1862 and 1865.

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One of the most demoralizing moments for the Confederate Army came on Christmas Eve in 1863, when President Lincoln commissioned Nast to illustrate Santa with the Union Troops.

This is Thomas Nast's earliest published picture of Santa Claus. It appeared in the January 3, 1863 Vol. VII – No. 314 edition of Harper's Weekly, and shows Santa Claus visiting a Civil War camp.

In the background, a sign can be seen that reads "Welcome Santa Claus." The illustration shows Santa handing out gifts to children and soldiers. One soldier receives a new pair of socks, which would no doubt be one of the most wonderful things a soldier of the time could receive. Santa is pictured with a long white beard, a furry hat, collar and belt.

He is sitting on his sleigh, pulled by reindeer.

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Perhaps most interesting about this print is the special gift in Santa's hand. Santa is holding a dancing puppet of none-other-than Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. The likeness to Jefferson Davis is unmistakable. Even more interesting, Davis appears to have the string tied around his neck, so Santa appears to be Lynching Jefferson Davis!

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Nast’s inspiration for this picture was the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas”

by Henry Livingston.” This poem has been widely attributed to Clement C. Moore, but he actually stole if from Livingston and claimed it as his own in his “Poems” published in 1823.

His support of the war with his patriotic drawings led President Lincoln to refer to him as the "Union's best recruiting sergeant."

General Grant also acknowledged that Nast and his pen had done as "much as any man" to bring the war to an end.”

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To deal with the controversy surrounding his Union Santa Nast tendered his apology in this drawing showing Santa’s home in the North Pole. This way Santa did not belong to any one country. He was a citizen of the world.

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This is a dramatic and moving Nast picture.

The Mother is at the window looking up at the night sky, obviously distressed about the absence of her husband. In the background can be seen a small bed with her two children.

A picture of the woman's husband is hanging on the wall.

On the inset image on the right, the woman's husband can be seen sitting with his rifle around a lonely campfire. In his hand is a small album with photographs of his wife and children. He is obviously lonesome, missing his wife and kids on a cold winter night.

Surrounding these two main images are a variety of scenes. In the upper left corner, an image of Santa Claus can be seen. Santa is crawling into a chimney. In the lower left is an image of soldiers marching in the snow.

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The upper right corner has another image of Santa, in a sleigh, being pulled by reindeer.

The lower right corner shows ships being tossed in the sea. The lower center shows an image of the graves of soldiers lost in the war.

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This illustration is titled, "Christmas 1863" with banners reading "The Furlough" and "Christmas Morning". The image is a leaf from the original 1863 Christmas edition of Harper's Weekly.

This illustration has a number of captivating inset images. On the left is an image of a little children, sound asleep in bed. Then we see Santa coming from the fireplace, with a bag of gifts on his shoulder.

The center image shows a Civil War Soldier, on furlough, coming home for Christmas.

The family is ecstatic, and is celebrating his return with hugs and kisses. To the right, the Children can be seen opening their presents.

Stockings can be seen hanging on the fireplace.

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In another effort to redeem his standing with the citizens of the South, “The Union “ Christmas Dinner” appeared in Harper's Weekly December 31, 1864.

This plate shows Lincoln welcoming the Confederate Soldiers into the dinner. There are empty chairs for each of the Confederate States.

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The drawing at right is from an 1865 Harper's Weekly. The illustration is captioned, "A Merry Christmas to All�. From this picture, we can see that our modern image of Santa has changed little in the last 140 years. The image of Santa is surrounded by smaller images showing the typical Christmas Traditions of the 1860's. At the bottom of the picture are the heads of Grant and Lee.

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The 1866 Christmas drawing celebrated the work done by the citizens to care for the soldiers.

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This picture of a girl in bed with arms around the neck of Santa Claus, who is holding a toy is from Christmas drawings for the human race . [New York] : Harper & Bros., c1892.

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Following the war Nast set his sights on reinventing not just St. Nicholas, whom he renamed "Santa Claus," but also Santa's environment and supporting cast. Santa, Nast decided, should live at the North Pole, a geographically neutral location that showed no favoritism amongst the children of the northern hemisphere. The sole industry at the North Pole would be, of course, toymaking, and the workers would be a tireless and devoted crew of elves who didn't know the meaning of the word "strike."

Nast painstakingly hand-engraved Moore's poem onto woodblock, using his own revolutionary illustrations as accompaniment.

The drawings were an instant sensation, going on to appear in many issues of Harper's Weekly between 1863 and 1886. No one seemed to mind the artistic license Nast had

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taken, and in 1890, with chromolithography approaching its peak, Harper & Brothers published a now-classic collection called Thomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human Race.

Seeing the potential in a Christmas theme that was overtly child-oriented, American toy and game manufacturers wasted no time incorporating the "new look" Santa into their production lines, resulting in a colorful spectrum of turn of the century Christmas toys.

As for Thomas Nast, his career and life ended in unexpected tragedy. In 1902, heavily in debt and desperate for funds, he reluctantly accepted an admiring President Theodore Roosevelt's offer of a diplomatic post in Ecuador. There, amidst the squalor of open

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sewers and nonexistent sanitation, Nast contracted yellow fever. Shortly after sending money home to America to settle his debts, the brilliant artist died at the age of sixty.

Of all that he left behind - and the legacy is immense - it is said that Thomas Nast loved his Christmas drawings best. Certainly, they have achieved immortality, as even today there has been little change from his muchloved original interpretation of "the right jolly old elf."

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1870 Peace On Earth and Good Will Toward Men. This hand colored wood engraving by Thomas Nast was published as a Christmas Supplement to Harper's Weekly on December 31, 1870. It shows small circled engravings of children surrounding a center engraving of a young girl and boy listening to one of Santa's elves, and an engraving below surrounded by mistletoe of Christ's birth.

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1885 "With the Compliments of the Season;" and "A (Political) Toy Bank." Two hand colored wood engravings by Thomas Nast on top an advertisement page in Harper's Weekly, published on December 26, 1885. Top left engraving depicts a mail carrier delivering seasonal mail; and top right engraving depicts a short Santa Claus depositing his sacks of money at his bank.

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1876 Seeing Santa Claus. Hand colored wood engraving by Nast published in Harper's Weekly as a Supplement on January 1, 1876.

Scene depicts a young boy playing 'hide and seek' with Santa, who's starting his descent down the chimney.

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1881 Merry Old Santa Claus. This hand colored double page engraving pictures Santa Claus loaded up with toys smoking a pipe.

This engraving is from the January, 1881 edition of Harper's Weekly.

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1876 "Twas the Night Before Christmas". A chance to test Santa Claus's generosity. This black and white engraving shows a small boy tacking a stocking to the mantle of the fireplace, using the bear rug head as a step stool.

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1879 Christmas Post. Hand colored wood published in Harper's Weekly - A Journal of Civilization on January 4, 1879; Vol. XXIII. No. 1149. Scene depicts a young woman posting a letter to Santa Claus outside a Toy Shop as her shaggy dog looks on.

Nast portrayed Santa as relying on the mail to get his Christmas list from children around the world.

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‌ but he soon embraced the new technology.

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‌ and by 1881 Santa had learned to ride one of the new fangled bicycles.

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Twas the Night Before Christmas", and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

This black and white engraving shows two mice sound asleep in tiny beds on the mantle next to a portrait of Santa, a Holly wreath and a vase full of Mistletoe. This genuine antique engraving is from the cover of the December, 1886 edition of Harper's Weekly.

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This 1890 Engraving titled "Little Jack Horner" shows a boy with dogs including a greyhound and a cat. Published in "Christmas Drawings for the Human Race".

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1874 Christmas Eve- Santa Claus waiting for the children to get to sleep. This hand colored wood engraving shows Santa Claus perched on top of a chimney with the loaded sleigh parked on the roof. Santa is patiently waiting with his bag of toys, smoking a pipe. This engraving is from the cover of the January 3, 1874 edition of Harper's Weekly.

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Beautiful hand colored wood engraving from the December 26, 1885 issue of Harper's Weekly. Ringing in the Air. Shows two images of Santa Claus Ringing in the Christmas Season. One side captioned, Ding!, the other side captioned, Dong!!

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1881

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Nast’s drawings have often been colorized and interpreted by other artists.

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1889

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And to all a Good Night