January First: Happy New Year!

Jessie Willcox Smith

During the latter part of the 19th century, when printing technology allowed magazines to begin producing full color covers, there began an era known as The Golden Age of Illustration. Probably one of the more famous artists who came from that era was Joseph Christian Leyendecker.

https://schristywolfe.com/2018/01/01/january-first-happy-new-year-3/

Among his 400+ magazine covers are the Baby New Years he painted for The Saturday Evening Post from 1906 to 1943. However, there were lots of other magazines who would devote their New Year covers to Baby New Year — or, at any rate, a baby of some sort.
Not all of the covers shared here are from the Golden Age of Illustration, which is generally described as lasting from the 1880s to the 1920s. But there’s plenty of fine illustrators to be found: Walter Beach Humphrey, Rea Irvin, Jessie Willcox Smith, Vernon Thomas, Charles Twelvetrees, and more.

  1. The Country Gentleman, January 1, 1921 by Walter Beach Humphrey
  2. Good Housekeeping, January 1925, by Jessie Willcox Smith
  3. Child Life, January 1928, by Hazel Frazee
  4. Good Housekeeping, January 1929, by Jessie Willcox Smith
  5. The Farmer’s Wife, January 1930 (could not find this artist)
  6. Good Housekeeping, January 1932, by Jessie Willcox Smith
  7. Collier’s, January 2, 1932 by Charles Twelvetrees
  8. The New Yorker, January 2, 1932, by Rea Irvin
  9. Good Housekeeping, January 1933, by Jessie Willcox Smith
  10. Collier’s, January 6, 1934 by Charles Twelvetrees
  11. Good Housekeeping, January 1935, by Vernon Thomas
  12. Good Housekeeping, January 1936, by Vernon Thomas
  13. Good Housekeeping, January 1937, by Horace C. Gaffron
  14. The Farmer’s Wife, January 1938, by R. James Stuart
  15. The New Yorker, December 1938, by Rea Irvin

Click on pictures to enlarge and scroll through them:

C

February 15, 1751~ Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein is born

Goethe in the Roman Campagna
by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

1787 / Oil on canvas / 64 1/2”x81” / Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

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“Having a bad day? Always remember: someone painted a life-sized portrait of Goethe with two left feet.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsZ5a8fF2fK/

January 31, 1865~ Congress passes 13th Amendment; submitted to states February 1st for ratification

A Visit from the Old Mistress by Winslow Homer

1876 / Oil on canvas / 18”x24” / Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC

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Previous January 31 posts:
Winter~ January 31
January 31 (music)~
Betty Parsons~ January 31, 1900-July 23, 1982
Jackie Robinson: January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972
Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/31~

January 30, 1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London

Vote for the Conservatives Who Gave You the Alliance
by Edward Huskinson

1906 Election poster / Printed by Hill, Sifken and Co LTD, London
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, UK

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Previous January 30 posts:
Winter~ January 30
January 30 (music)~
Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/30~

January 29, 1845~ Poe’s The Raven published in The Evening Mirror (NY)

The Raven from “The Bells and Other Poems”,
illustrations by Edmund Dulac

1912 signed limited edition / 11 small vignettes and 28 tipped-in color plates
Image size? / Hodder and Stoughton, New York and London

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Previous January 29 posts:
Winter~ January 29
January 29 (music)~
Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/29~

January 28, 1885~ Rodin commissioned by city of Calais to create a monument

The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin

1884–89 / Bronze / ​79 3⁄8”x​80 7⁄8”x​77 1⁄8” / Place du Soldat-Inconnu, 62100 Calais, France

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Previous January 28 posts:

Winter~ January 28

Arthur Rubinstein: Born January 28, 1887

Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/28~

January 27, 1825~ President Monroe approves plan to relocate east coast Indian nations to the west

State Names by Jaune Quick-To-See Smith

2000 / Oil, collage, and mixed media on canvas / 48”x72” / Smithsonian American Art Museum, DC

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Previous January 27 posts:

Winter~ January 27

January 27 (music)~

Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll

Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/27~

January 26, 1950~ The Constitution of the Republic of India comes into effect

Title page of the Constitution of India
(original calligraphed and illuminated version)

Designed and illustrated by artists from Shantiniketan including Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose,
calligraphy by Prem Behari Narain Raizada

1949 / Ink on parchment / 234 23”x18” manuscript pages / Library of the Parliament of India, New Delhi

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Previous January 26 posts:

Winter~ January 26

January 26 (music)~

Barbara Kruger: Born January 26, 1945

Artist Birthday Quiz for 1/26~