Christmas Card (First Prize Winner of Louis Prang's Christmas Card Competition, 1881)
In 1881, Louis Prang & Company, the leading printer and publisher of chromolithographs in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century, held their second annual Christmas card design competition. The Symbolist artist Elihu Vedder won first prize for his painting of an allegorical figure set within an Art Nouveau-style border that features an excerpt from a poem by Celia Thaxter. Prang reproduced the painting as a multi-color lithograph and included Thaxter’s poem in full on the back, along with a caption declaring Vedder as the winner of a $1000 award for his design. The card is decorated with silk fringe and along its four edges, with two tassels hanging from the bottom corners and a no-longer existing string at the top, which would have allowed recipients of the card to hang it on the walls of their home or on their Christmas tree.
Artwork Details
- Title: Christmas Card (First Prize Winner of Louis Prang's Christmas Card Competition, 1881)
- Artist: Elihu Vedder (American, New York 1836–1923 Rome)
- Printer: Louis Prang & Co. (Boston, Massachusetts)
- Publisher: Louis Prang & Co. (Boston, Massachusetts)
- Date: 1881
- Medium: Color lithograph with silk fringe and tassels
- Dimensions: Image: 10 1/16 × 7 1/16 in. (25.5 × 18 cm)
- Classifications: Prints, Ephemera
- Credit Line: Gift of Paul Jeromack, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.469.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.