Collection search - Hallmark Cards Canada Fonds [graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
Hallmark Cards Canada Fonds [graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1926-1945.

Reference:

R12312-0-1-E

Type of material:

Art

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

3744083

Context of this record:

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Hallmark Cards Canada Fonds
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Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

104 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1926-1945.

Place:

Toronto, Ontario:

Place of creation:

Canada

Publisher:

William E. Coutts Cards.,

Extent:

102 prints: serigraphs on heavy wove paper; various dimensions.
3 reproductions: photo-mechanical process prints on heavy wove paper; various dimensions.
1 painting: oil on canvas; 43.7 x 33.1 cm. (sight, framed).

Language of material:

English
Accession:

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Coutts Painters of Canada Series Collection [graphic material]

Hallmark Cards Canada Limited collection [graphic material]

Hallmark Greeting Card collection [graphic material]

Hallmark Cards Canada collection [graphic material]
Scope and content:

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Christmas cards produced by the Coutts Company between 1926 and 1931 as serigraphs and as reproductive prints. The designs for the Christmas cards were commissioned from twenty-six Canadian artists, among them several members of the Group of Seven. The commission came about when A.Y. Jackson, one of the members of the Group, encouraged William E. Coutts, the company owner and a great supporter of the arts in Canada, to offer the commissions as a source of revenue for artists who were experiencing financial difficulties, as well as a means of increasing interest in contemporary Canadian art. The idea promised to be a great success, but the coming of the Depression caused the series of cards to be a financial failure, since the price ranged from $ 37.50 to $ 67.50 per hundred cards. It is estimated that only about twenty-five to fifty examples of each card were sold.

The twenty-six artists represented are: Frederick Banting, J. W. Beatty, F.H. Brigden, Franklin Carmichael, A.J. Casson, Charles Comfort, Rody Kenny Courtice, Fred Haines, J.S. Hallam, Lawren S. Harris, Frank Hennessey, Edwin Holgate, Yvonne McKague Housser, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnton, J.E.H. MacDonald, Thoreau MacDonald, Thomas Mitchell, Kathleen Moir Morris, Herbert S. Palmer, George Pepper, W.J. Phillips, Sarah Robertson, Albert H. Robinson, J.E. Sampson, and Anne Savage.

The subject of the cards included winter scenes of villages from the West Coast to the east, although mostly in Ontario and Quebec, including village scenes in the Laurentians, going to church, skiiing, sleighing, snowshoeing, wayside shrines, snowmen, etc., and one summer scene of canoeing.

The fonds also includes an original oil painting commissioned from Montreal artist Hal Ross Perrigard, entitled Peace, and done in 1945, which was also the subject of a card.

Provenance:

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Hallmark Cards Canada Limited
Additional name(s):

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Artist: Haines, Frederick Stanley, 1879-1960

Artist: Banting, F. G. (Frederick Grant), Sir, 1891-1941

Artist: Beatty, J. W. (John William), 1869-1941

Artist: Casson, A. J. (Alfred Joseph), 1898-1992

Artist: Sampson, Joseph Ernest, 1887-1946

Artist: Brigden, Frederick Henry, 1871-1956

Artist: Hennessey, F. C. (Frank Charles), 1893-1941

Artist: MacDonald, Thoreau, 1901-1989

Artist: Holgate, Edwin Headley, 1892-1977

Artist: Macdonald, J. E. H. (James Edward Hervey), 1873-1932

Artist: Palmer, Herbert Sidney, 1881-1970

Artist: Pepper, George Douglas, 1903-1962

Artist: Harris, Lawren, 1885-1970

Artist: Courtice, Rody Kenny, 1895-1973

Artist: Housser, Yvonne McKague, 1898-1996

Artist: Johnston, Frank H. (Francis Hans), 1888-1949

Artist: Robinson, Albert Henry, 1881-1956

Artist: Savage, Anne, 1896-1971

Artist: Hallam, J. S. (Joseph Sydney), 1898-1953

Artist: Perrigard, Hal Ross, 1891-1960

Artist: Carmichael, Franklin, 1890-1945

Artist: Mitchell, Thomas 1879-1958

Artist: Robertson, Sarah, 1891-1948

Artist: Jackson, A. Y. (Alexander Young), 1882-1974

Artist: Phillips, Walter Joseph, 1884-1963

Artist: Morris, Kathleen Moir 1893-1986

Artist: Comfort, Charles Fraser, 1900-1994
Finding aid:

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(Electronic) All items described and photographed in both black and white negatives, and in colour transparency format at item-level. (90: Open)

Additional information:

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General note:

The Public Archives of Canada produced an exhibition based on the fonds, "1931 - Painters of Canada Series Exhibition of Christmas Cards" originally exhibited at the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, december 8, 1983-January 8, 1984. The exhibition subsequently travelled to other locations, and the original 1983 brochure was republished in 1991.

Custodial history:

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Works commissioned by the William E. Coutts Company from various artists in the 1920s and 1930s; Coutts was subsequently acquired by Hallmark Cards and became Coutts-Hallmark; acquired directly from the successor company Hallmark Cards Canada through donation and purchase in 1983 and 1985.

44 of the serigraphs and 3 reproductions of the original set of 26 cards were donated as part of an order book produced by Coutts in 1931. The original order book is 29.3 x 38.8 cm. Front cover has a mounted serigraph by A.Y. Jackson, Over the Hills, 1931, within an embossed silver frame and in inscribed in embossed silver letters: PAINTERS OF CANADA SERIES with the Coutts logo embossed in silver and brown: COUTTS/GREETING/CARDS/PAINTERS/OF CANADA/SERIES/MADE IN CANADA. It is decorated with serigraphed silver stars and side stripe. This unique order book is one of a few survivors of an unknown number of albums that were created by the Coutts Company for advertising the series. The album contains a sample of each card in the series; a short biography of each of the 26 contributing artists; the price per dozen, 25, 50, 75 and 100 cards, and a selection of greetings. The customer coud obtain a personalized Christmas card and the greeting of his or her choice from the order book.

Related material:

Canada Post issued a series of three stamps based on these cards on October 22, 1980, and the Philatelic Archives owns a set of first day covers and well as the collectors' first day covers. The works selected were "Sleigh Party" by J.S. Hallam; "Christmas Morning" by Frank Hennessey; and "Cab Stand Montreal" by Kathleen Moir Morris.

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1984-016 PIC
1985-173 PIC
1985-188 PIC
1986-025 PIC

Other accession no.:

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1984-016 PIC
1986-025 PIC
1985-173 PIC
1985-188 PIC
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Graphic (art)

[Consultation18 Restricted]
None of the designs can be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from Hallmark canada. Credit line to Hallmark Canada must be printed with every reproduction of the designs as "1931 Painters of Canada Series, Hallmark Cards Canada". No restrictions on physical access for the purposes of private research and study.

Box [1984-016]

[Consultation 18 Restricted]

A305-01 Item no. assigned by LAC 2

[Consultation 18 Restricted]

Box [1985-173] BK-313

[Consultation 18 Restricted]

Copy negative [1984-016]

[Consultation 90 Open]

C-105485 Item no. assigned by LAC 2

[Consultation 90 Open]

Terms of use:

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Copyright: Hallmark Cards Canada. Permission to use any of the designs for commercial purposes must be obtained from hallmark Cards Canada (contact name available in administrative files).

Credit line: 1931 Painters of Canada Series, Hallmark Cards Canada.

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