Twenty-Five Years of Christmas Cards

As we've done during previous Decembers, we've put up an array of Ralph Hulett Christmas cards in Gallery 839, and invite you to come have a look-see between the hours of 8:30 and 5:00 any weekday during the Christmas season. ...

Hulett created dozens of Christmas card designs annually from the late forties to the 1970s. They encompass a wide range of styles and media. And they're also larger than your standard-issue boxed card.

The short bio:

Ralph Hulett was born in Kankakee, Illinois in 1915. He came to California at the age of seven, attending public schools in Glendale. From a young age, his artistic talents were obvious and upon graduation from Hoover High School, he was awarded a four-year scholarship to study at the CHoinard Art Institute.

After graduation from Chouinard in 1938, he went to work full-time at Disney's Hyperion Studio. He did production work for Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. From 1943, he worked in the Disney background department, receiving screen credit for his work on most of the Disney animated features from the middle 1940s to the early 1970s.

Hulett was a prolific watercolorist and by 1937, was an exhibiting member of the California Water Color Society. In the 1940s, he was exhibiting in New York City. He produced watercolor illustrations that appeared in Ford Times, Westways and other magazines, and did commercial work for Swissair and KNBC, as well as album covers for Capitol Records. In the 1960s, he received acclaim for independent animated and live-action films which he produced. (One Got Fat is a long-time favorite on YouTube.)

Ralph Hulett passed away in 1974.