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Anton Rudert, a mural painter in his youth, was just twenty-two years old when
he designed the 1911 Christmas Seal. He exhibited at the Salons of American Art,
an offshoot of the more conservative Society of Independent Artists. The Salons of American Art organized and held nonjuried exhibitions between 1922 and 1936. Rudert was also a well-known art expert with the Parke-Bernet Galleries and
its predecessor, the American Art Association, for 51 years. Widely respected for
his knowledge of painting, he was also a judge of arms and armor. He frequently appeared at art auctions as an agent bidding for works by such masters as Van Dyke and Titian.
Unlike earlier seal designs, his is the first to show a snow scene. The image has the appearance of a coin-within the circular outline, a cabin sits between two fir trees and is topped with a relatively large red cross emblem. It is the first seal in which typography was used instead of lithography. Typography produces stamps through a letters press, which makes an impression. In lithography, an image is inscribed on a smooth plate. |
