Haddon Sundblom
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Haddon Hubbard "Sunny" Sundblom (June 22, 1899 – March 10, 1976) was a United States artist best known for the images of Santa Claus he created for The Coca-Cola Company.
Sundblom was born in Muskegon, Michigan to a Swedish-speaking family. His father, Karl Wilhelm Sundblom, came from the farm Norrgårds in the village of Sonboda in Föglö of the Swedish-speaking Åland Islands, then part of the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland now Finland, and his mother Karin Andersson was from Sweden. Sundblom studied at the American Academy of Art.
Sundblom is best remembered for his advertising work, specifically the Santa Claus advertisements he painted for The Coca-Cola Company in the 1930s. Sundblom's Claus firmly established the larger-than-life, grandfatherly Claus as a key figure in Christmas imagery. So popular were Sundblom's images of Claus (Sundblom's images are used by Coca-Cola to this day) that the urban legend soon arose that Sundblom had actually created the modern image of Santa Claus.[1]
According to the Coca Cola company[2][3] : "For inspiration, Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (commonly called "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human. For the next 33 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that helped to create the modern image of Santa -- an interpretation that today lives on in the minds of people of all ages, all over the world."
In addition to his illustration work, Sundblom also painted the iconic image of the Quaker Oats man in 1957; the image is still used in Quaker branding to this day. Sundblom is recognized as a major influence on many well known pin-up artists, such as Gil Elvgren, Joyce Ballantyne, and Art Frahm. In the mid-1930s, he began to paint pin-ups and glamour pieces for calendars. Sundblom's last assignment, in 1972, was a cover painting for Playboy's Christmas issue.
[edit] Footnotes
Sundblom also used himself as the model of Santa, so when you look at the iconic Santa you are seeing a plumped up version of the artist himself. He worked with the artist Harold William McCauley, June 11, 1913 - December 16, 1977, for many years who he greatly influenced. The two of them regularly used each other and themselves as the models to save money on modeling fees. Sundblom used himself as the model of the famous Santa and he used Harold McCauley as the model of the Quakers Oats man. H. W. McCauley also did one of the Coca Cola Santa's. The two had great respect for each other and were friends working in the same studio. Also, H.W. McCauley married his favorite model, Grace Lorraine Lindeman, September 19, 1925 - April 06, 2008, and she is the model for many of the fresh faced Coca Cola (Mac Girls), and Sci Fi Pulp mags. K.L. McCauley, daughter of H.W. McCauley
[edit] References
- Dream of Santa: Haddon Sundblom's Advertising Paintings for Christmas, 1931–1964, by Haddon Sundblom, Barbara Fahs Charles, J. R. Taylor
- The Great American Pin-Up, by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel, ISBN 3-8228-1701-5
