Kyrylo Bondarenko

"Santa Claus"

2001

A painting as a prophetic thought. A philosophical perspective on the sum of actions, the essence of humanity, and the future of the entire race. My images in my paintings come tr...

The picture was painted on money. This is a new world direction in art. In 40 countries of the world. My paintings are in the collections of world museums. This is a great investment...

Signed Lower Right

A Salvation Army Santa looks on with a mixture of fatigue and disinterest as a group of children tell him their Christmas gift wish lists in this lighthearted composition by leading American illustrator Leslie Thrasher. This painting was created for the December 20, 1930 issue of Liberty Magazine, for which the artist illustrated covers on a weekly basis for six consecutive years. Thrasher is known for his scenes of everyday American life imbued with a sense of humor, qualities represented to great effect in this charming painting. Born in 1889 in Piedmont, West Virginia, Thrasher studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as a teenager and received a scholarship to study art abroad in Paris. Upon his return, he began studying under Howard Pyle, known as the “father of American illustration.” Thrasher sold his first cover illustration to the Saturday Evening Post in 1912, four years before Norman Rockwell’s first Post cover, and he would go on to produce over 360 magazine covers throughout his career. He painted humorous, relatable scenes of everyday life in America with colorful characters set against white backgrounds. He was also a successful commercial artist, painting advertisements for Cream of Wheat, Chesterfield Cigarettes...