Monday, November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving Greeting by Mary LaFetra Russell - 1916 Rather like Christmas in the UK, Thanksgiving in the US is a major turkey consuming event and as a vegetarian I usually steer clear of the all the turkey references in greetings cards at this time of year, however, this artist signed postcard is such a gem that I couldn't resist buying it and sharing it here! I spent quite a while pondering on the signature "MLaFR" but finally worked it out...this postcard features a design by the celebrated children's book illustrator Mary LaFetra Russell who is probably best known for her drawings for a collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

The postcard has a matte surface and a very light linen finish and the colours are still very bright, although the image was slightly marred at the time of posting - on 28 November 1916 - by the smudge of the postal cancellation which also appears on the picture side of the card. The company logo in the bottom left of the back of the card is a large letter "G" inside an artist's palette which I believe may represent one of the various incarnations of the Cincinatti-based Gibson Art Co. - if I'm wrong please leave a comment below! Certainly, the strongly coloured illustration floating at the centre of a white background with no border is typical of their house style of that period.
[null, {"document_url": "https://gallery.vintagepostcardstore.net/2009/11/thanksgiving-greeting-by-mary-lafetra.html", "unformatted_src": "//3.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/Swqi6DdSzNI/AAAAAAAAAkA/HcnpL5Cxrek/s400/Thanksgiving-Mary-LaFetra-Russell.jpg", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/Swqi6DdSzNI/AAAAAAAAAkA/HcnpL5Cxrek/s400/Thanksgiving-Mary-LaFetra-Russell.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Thanksgiving Mary LaFetra Russell"}, null, {"document_url": "https://gallery.vintagepostcardstore.net/2009/11/thanksgiving-greeting-by-mary-lafetra.html", "unformatted_src": "//lh4.ggpht.com/_td11uQPH1OI/Swqi6XbcDoI/AAAAAAAAAkI/nQWnsZbP-qw/s400/Thanksgiving-back.jpg", "src": "http://lh4.ggpht.com/_td11uQPH1OI/Swqi6XbcDoI/AAAAAAAAAkI/nQWnsZbP-qw/s400/Thanksgiving-back.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Thanksgiving back"}, null, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "https://gallery.vintagepostcardstore.net/2009/11/thanksgiving-greeting-by-mary-lafetra.html", "unformatted_src": "//lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J1TY-Zp_UvE/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAATNc/HY4hX9rvuvI/s80-c/photo.jpg", "src": "http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J1TY-Zp_UvE/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAATNc/HY4hX9rvuvI/s80-c/photo.jpg", "formatted_filename": "photo", "alt_text": "My photo", "rendered_width": 80, "rendered_height": 80}, null, null, {"document_url": "https://gallery.vintagepostcardstore.net/2009/11/thanksgiving-greeting-by-mary-lafetra.html", "unformatted_src": "//1.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/S0CCtyGDupI/AAAAAAAAAqU/J70almg3oAQ/S180/one_lovely_blog_award.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/S0CCtyGDupI/AAAAAAAAAqU/J70almg3oAQ/S180/one_lovely_blog_award.jpg", "formatted_filename": "one lovely blog award", "alt_text": "One Lovely Blog Award", "rendered_width": 150, "rendered_height": 150}, null, null, {"document_url": "https://gallery.vintagepostcardstore.net/2009/11/thanksgiving-greeting-by-mary-lafetra.html", "unformatted_src": "//1.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/S5-g6PaHv4I/AAAAAAAAAuY/6zBk2odja7E/s320/sunshine-award.png", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_td11uQPH1OI/S5-g6PaHv4I/AAAAAAAAAuY/6zBk2odja7E/s320/sunshine-award.png", "formatted_filename": "sunshine award", "alt_text": "Sunshine Award", "rendered_width": 160, "rendered_height": 155}, null, null, null, null, null]