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.
- The Country Gentleman, January 1, 1921 by Walter Beach Humphrey
- Good Housekeeping, January 1925, by Jessie Willcox Smith
- Child Life, January 1928, by Hazel Frazee
- Good Housekeeping, January 1929, by Jessie Willcox Smith
- The Farmer’s Wife, January 1930 (could not find this artist)
- Good Housekeeping, January 1932, by Jessie Willcox Smith
- Collier’s, January 2, 1932 by Charles Twelvetrees
- The New Yorker, January 2, 1932, by Rea Irvin
- Good Housekeeping, January 1933, by Jessie Willcox Smith
- Collier’s, January 6, 1934 by Charles Twelvetrees
- Good Housekeeping, January 1935, by Vernon Thomas
- Good Housekeeping, January 1936, by Vernon Thomas
- Good Housekeeping, January 1937, by Horace C. Gaffron
- The Farmer’s Wife, January 1938, by R. James Stuart
- The New Yorker, December 1938, by Rea Irvin
Click on pictures to enlarge and scroll through them:
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