Coke Card 229

Commissioned Artists
Throughout its history, The Coca-Cola Company has captured the spirit of the times through its advertising art. From its first promotional calendars produced in the 1890s, the Company linked itself to the popular designs and lifestyles of the era the art represents.

The Coca-Cola Company used the work of the top artists of the day, including the leading artists of America's Golden Age of Illustration. Their work for the Company
exemplifies the classic All-American image they helped create in the first half of the 20th Century. The famous illustrators produced paintings for The Coca-Cola Company from the turn of the century into the 1960s, when their art form was replaced by photography in the Company's advertising.

Much of the work of artists working on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company is beautifully displayed in a recent book, Coca-Cola Girls: An Advertising Art History by Chris H. Beyer (Collectors Press, Inc.). The richly illustrated history captures the Company's compelling use of "radiant, vivacious, and breezy" young women, always dressed in the latest fashions, in Coca-Cola® advertising since the late 1800s. The vast majority of the Company's advertising posters and calendars featured these beautiful women, who became synonymous with the most recognized trademark in the world.

In his book, the first art book The Coca-Cola Company has licensed for publication, Beyer writes,"one of the most consistent focuses of the Company's advertising has been its depictions of attractive young women who persuade their audience to enjoy a glass of 'Delicious' and 'Refreshing' Coca-Cola."

The earliest use of an artist's signature by The Coca-Cola Company was on the work of Hamilton King, a prominent artist at the turn of the century. King illustrated the beautiful "Coca-Cola girls" for calendars from 1910 to 1913. His work also appears on serving trays.

Over the next quarter century, the Company used a wide variety of illustrators, some of whom signed their works. But most did not. The anonymous craftsmen produced lavish illustrations with deep colors that graced calendars and other promotional pieces.

In the mid 1920s, The Coca-Cola Company began working with a young illustrator who would become synonymous with both Coca-Cola and Santa Claus. His name was Haddon H. Sundblom.