Name/Title
Print, Christmas: 1955 Country Prints Christmas GreetingDescription
A 1955 Country Prints Christmas greeting mailed to retailers, suppliers and other people of note to the business.
A five-color silkscreen print on natural linen depicting verses from the Christmas song The Friendly Beasts (which has multiple alternate titles), telling the Christmas story from the point of view of the animals living in the barn on the night Jesus was born.
A note in the lower right margin states, “as sung by Burl Ives”, one of Wert’s favorite folk singers, who recorded this song in 1952 for inclusion on his album Christmas Day in the Morning; see web link to hear the song.
Read from top to bottom, the verses appear out of order from the recorded song, but make sense as a visual story telling aid, starting with the doves in the rafters and descending to Jesus lying in the manger below.
The composition is signed in the bottom margin, “robert darr wert and the COUNTRY PRINTERS, ANNO 1955”. The workshop produced three versions of this design. This is the only one dated and signed in this way.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Robert Darr WertRole
ArtistManufacturer
Country PrintsDate made
1955Time Period
20th CenturyPlace
Location
Gill MA.Continent
North AmericaInscription/Signature/Marks
“robert darr wert and the COUNTRY PRINTERS, ANNO 1955” at lower margin, and “AS SUNG BY BURL IVES” in right margin.Material
Unbleached Linen, Textile InkColor
Brown, Green, Brick Red, Teal, Black
