Monday, November 27, 2006

Ralph Hulett's Thirty-Six Days of Christmas

Disney background artist Ralph Hulett (my father), spent thirty-seven years at the Mouse House, working on shorts and animated features, from Song of the South straight through to Robin Hood. But he had other gigs besides his Disney livelihood. And one of the more lucrative was being a Christmas card designer...

Love is a gentle flow of softness

From the forties to the seventies, he turned out hundreds of Christmas card designs for the likes of California Artists, Designers Showcase and others. In those days, companies paid royalties, and Father made a lot of coin over the years painting and selling Christmas cards.

Most of these designs haven't seen the light of day for years, but that's what blogs are for, right? To resurrect neglected artwork? So without further ado, we'll present a sampling of Hulett Christmas cards, from now until New Year's Day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful picture... and beautiful honor to him.
- Looking forward to see his artwork.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful painting.

Is the green pattern a moire effect or part of the design?

Steve Hulett said...

I think it's part of the original design, but I could be wrong on this. You're looking at a scan of an original Christmas card.

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