The Art of Advent: Day Nine

By Karen Phan

For the nineth day of HASTA’s advent calendar, we’ll be looking into the origins of the Christmas postcard. During the 1843 season, England witnessed an influx of letter correspondence with the expansion of the British postal system and incorporation of the “Penny Post” three years prior. This system allowed for senders to mail a letter or card anywhere in the country by affixing a penny stamp to the correspondence. This prompted Sir Henry Cole, founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, to commission the first commercially available Christmas greeting card. He requested John Callcott Horsely to create a card that conveyed seasonal greetings to his friends. Horsely’s outcome was a board card divided into three sections embodying festivities of the holidays. The centerpiece depicted a homely family party in progress with two side panels illustrating the spirit of Christmas charity.

John Callcott Horsley, Greetings card, 1843, England. Museum no. MSL.3293-1987. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

On the other hand, "Christmas - Ronda" by contemporary Scottish artist Barbara Rae takes a spin on the traditional greeting card. The artwork, characterized by Rae's abstract style of color, depicts a warm landscape reminiscent of southern Spain unlike the typical Scottish winter. Inspired by the Andalusian town of Ronda, this painting created with oil and mixed media on paper collage, features horizontal bands of reds and oranges. One could assume mimicking the horizon or layers rock found near the El Tajo canyon and infusing it with the heat of the southern region. Amidst the earthy terrain, a mysterious bright red, conical form sticks out. Possibly representing a landscape element, such as a jagged rock outcrop, or even Father Christmas' hat. Rae is known for embodying time passing in her fluidity and brushstrokes which presents itself here through an untraditional manner of the holiday season. You can discover more of her work at http://www.barbararae.com/.

Barbara Rae, Christmas - Ronda, 1991. © the Artist. Photo credit: Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture

Bibliography

“Christmas Cards And Calendars.” The British Medical Journal 2, no. 2083 (1900): 1576– 1576. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20266591.

“Christmas – Ronda.” Art UK. Accessed December 7, 2023. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/christmas-ronda-186592.

Henry, William E. “Art and Cultural Symbolism: A Psychological Study of Greeting

Cards.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 6, no. 1 (1947): 36–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/426176.

Leonardo, Micaela di. “The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship.” Signs 12, no. 3 (1987): 440–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174331.

“The First Christmas Card.” Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed December 7, 2023. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-first-christmas-card.