Haddon Hubbard “Sunny” Sundblom
The illustrator who did NOT conspire with Coca-Cola to invent the modern-day Santa Claus.
Imagine if Santa were a tiny, pipe-smoking, soot-covered, elf. According to Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” that’s precisely what he is. None of this big, non-pipe-smoking, soot-free, human business!
Could you imagine if we collectively went with Clarke’s version? There would be smallish, dirty, smokin’, elf-lookin’ “Santas” on every street corner! New York City’s annual SantaCon would terrify children. At the moment, it just triggers adults. Parents would keep their kids far away from strangers’ laps (it’s already creepy, if you think about it). Ralphie Parker in The Christmas Story wouldn’t have had a face full of Santa’s boot after Ralphie’s request for a Red Ryder, Carbine-action, 200-shot, Ranger Model, Air Rifle was denied.
Thank goodness Santa looks the way he looks—and we have a few illustrators to thank for that. One of those illustrators interpreted Clarke’s poem, and gave us the most iconic Coca-Cola ads in history. In doing so, he solidified what we think about when we think about Santa.
RISING STAR
Haddon Hubbard “Sunny” Sundblom was born on June 22, 1899, in Muskegon, Michigan. His parents, Karl Wilhelm Sundblom and Karin Andersson, were immigrants from Finland and Sweden, respectively. In his early teen years, Sundblom dropped out of school—after his mother passed—to help support the family.
At the age of 21, Sundblom apprenticed at Chicago’s Charles Everett Johnson Studio. He referred to the studio as “a galaxy of stars”. “I ran errands, washed brushes, et cetera, for Mac Barclay, Will Foster, Frank Snapp, Harry Timmins, Maurice Logan, Roy Spreter, Vaughn Flannery, and Walter Stocklin, to mention just a few. One was bound to learn something in that kind of company.”
By 1930, Sundblom’s own star was on the rise. Meanwhile, The D’Arcy Advertising Agency and Coca-Cola were working on a way to drum up Coke’s winter sales. They tapped Sundblom. In 1931, his Santa debuted.
Over the next 30 years, the Sundblom Santa appeared in magazines, posters, store displays, and billboards.
No, Santa is not red and white because Big Coke wanted him to be so. That’s a myth. Not everything a corporation does is a psy-op to get you to be an obedient consumer and brand loyalist. Not everything…
SINTERKLAAS
To be clear, we’re talking about modern-day Santa Claus! He is not to be confused with Victorian-era Father Christmas, or the even older Holly King.
The name “Santa Claus” comes from Sinterklaas—the Dutch nickname for Sint Nikolaas, or Saint Nicholas. Sinterklaas was inspired by Saint Nicholas of Myra, otherwise known as Nicholas of Bari (where my parents are from). St. Nick was known to secretly dole out a gift or two. He often left coins in people’s empty shoes. His biggest claim to fame involved giving three Christian women dowries so they didn’t have to become prostitutes.
Thomas Nast’s Santa Claus in Camp was the first known, official introduction to modern-day Santa. It appeared in the January 3, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly.
“In this image,” wrote librarian and archivist, Rachael DiEleuterio, “Santa visits a Union encampment, distributing gifts to soldiers. Most notably, Nast dressed Santa in a coat patterned with stars and trousers striped like the American flag. Santa holds a puppet labeled “Jeff,” a not-so-subtle swipe at Confederate president Jefferson Davis. The message was unmistakable: even Santa supported the Union cause. Over the years, Nast continued to refine and elaborate Santa’s image. His illustrations provided the first known references to Santa living at the North Pole and maintaining a toy workshop—details that soon became fixtures of the Santa Claus mythology.”
Ryan Hyman, a curator at the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Nast’s hometown of Morristown, New Jersey, pointed out that Nast fashioned Santa—all bearded and rotund—on himself.
Then, in 1917, The Saturday Evening Post publishes J.C. Leyendecker’s rather svelte sidewalk Santa. He’s clothed in red and white. Why red and white? Well, in those days, a palette of red, yellow, white, and black is all an illustrator needed to create a “full-color” piece. This palette was popularized in the late 1800s by Swedish painter, Anders Zorn—who used Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Vermilion (or Cadmium Red Light), and Ivory Black. It’s faster to paint with a “limited” Zorn palette. And easier (and cheaper) to print.
In 1922, The Post publishes Norman Rockwell’s Santa and his Elves. Again, Santa’s a bearded, bespectacled, grandpa who’s clothed in red and white.
A year later, Leyendecker’s Santa’s Lap graces the cover of The Post. It’s one of the first times the public sees a much rounder, rosy-cheeked, jolly ol’ fellow. His outfit’s classier, refined—and much more in line with today’s Santa.
So, if anything, Santa is red and white today because of Anders Zorn, creative expediency, and printing limitations.
Many, like writer Mitch Ziems, believe that Santa’s image was “still evolving” in the 1930s. “His red and white garb,” wrote Ziems, “was just one of many Santa was seen to wear up until that time.” Nope.
Journalist, editor, and writer, Martha Elena Violante de Santos, wrote, “Today’s Santa Claus is more of a The Coca Cola Company’s manufacture [sic], so much so that his traditional clothing, which for centuries was green, was transformed to match the brand’s motifs.” Try again.
’Tis the season for grinches to post “articles,” reels, toks, and vids, on how Santa is Coke’s doing. As much as I would love to believe that the symbol of the holiday’s capitalistic chaos is just a mascot for soda, alas, it is not thus.
SEXY CHRISTMAS
In a 1956 article, author and illustrator, Frederic Whitaker, said that Sundblom’s art had a “lucency which aroused the expressed envy even of… Norman Rockwell”.
It’s unfair to boil down Sundblom’s career to simply being the “Santa guy”. When you buy Quaker Oats, you’re staring at a Sundblom. Much like Leyendeck and Rockwell before him, Sundblom inspired generations of artists—including Joyce Ballantyne, who famously depicted a dog pulling down a girl’s swimsuit bottom for Coppertone. Nothing like a little inappropriate imagery to go with your skin cancer, aye Coppertone? I digress.
Speaking of arousal… In 1972, Sundblom was asked by a client to revisit “Santa”. The client was Playboy Magazine. As a pin-up artist, Sundblom responded accordingly. It would be the last thing he ever illustrated. He passed four years later.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but Dennis Dittrich—illustrator, educator, and former president of The Society of Illustrators—once told me a story about Sundblom. Allegedly, Sundblom would often get drunk at night, and fire his assistant. The next morning, he’d forget all about the firing, or he’d change his mind. This went on for a while. Allegedly.
No matter what Santa looks like, no matter who created him, Sarah and I hope that you and yours hear St. Nick exclaim, ere he drives out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
—Giuseppe
Founder, The Illustration Department
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(Sources: publicdomainreview.org, artandobject.com, raleigh.aiga.org, todaysinspiration.blogspot.com, artistsandillustrators.co.uk, snopes.com, and coca-colacompany.com)
That is a lot of good illustration history tied into the spirit of the season. Thanks for all the good reads this year.
Or... Father Christmas... 1836ish Victorian England... inspired by the even earlier... celtic Holly King.... etc etc Old bloke dressed in furs, who liked a drink!
Saint Nicholas definately was the gift-giver though.
Read more about it here (with a few good illustrations too): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas
:)