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Born in Cincinnati, Charles Allan Winter left school at age twelve to work in his uncle's business. At age fifteen he enrolled in the Cincinnati Art Academy part time and continued to work. Eventually, Winter was able to attend the academy full time and in 1894 won a scholarship to study at art academies in Paris and Rome for the next three years. In 1896 his allegorical paintings Antigone and Egyptienne were exhibited at the Paris Salon. Two years later, he received a commission to teach
portraiture at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. In 1901 Winter left St. Louis to open his own studio in New York City, where he continued painting and illustrating for
the next thirty years. During his years in New York, Winter received commissions to illustrate for popular magazines like Collier's Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Hearst's Century, Scribners, and many others.
Winter was also hired by the American Bank Note Company to make figure compositions to be engraved for bank notes and bonds. It was this type of work that probably led to his selection for the design of the 1918 Christmas Seal. Designed at the close of World War I, the 1918 seal is patriotic in theme, with the figure "Liberty" bearing both a torch and shield surrounded by holly leaves. To avoid competition and confusion with other fund drives during the war, the annual seal sale was suspended. Everyone who joined the annual American Red Cross Roll Call was given a set of seals. |
