As long as I’m posting about bygone holidays, let’s take a look at J.C. Leyendecker’s tradition of “New Years Baby” Saturday Evening Post covers.

Something about the combination of babies and war motifs is particularly disturbing.

Even the benign themes can be mildly uncomfortable to look at.

However, Leyendecker was responsible for images that now hold archetypal status in our culture. For example, we take our modern concept of Santa as a jolly fat man from his illustrations. He had a tremendous influence on painter Norman Rockwell.

I actually enjoy the intense, glowing hyper-realism of Leyendecker’s work.

See the New Year magazine covers here. You can actually trace the major socio-political themes of last century in succession through these covers.