Posts by Vincenzo Rutigliano

The first Christmas card is believed to have been designed, in England by the painter John Callcott Horsley, in 1843. He created the greeting for Sir Henry Cole.

The card, a triptych, depicts a family party, beneath them are the words “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” A thousand copies were made and colored by hand. “Within 20 years several British firms were publishing Christmas cards for the general public.” Encyclopedia Americana - (Greeting Cards)

Louis Prang, a Boston lithographer, “is credited with producing the first commercial Christmas cards in the United States.” A German immigrant he began printing cards in “Roxbury, 

Check out a new book titled “The History of the Snowman: From the Ice Age to the Flea Market” by Bob Eckstein. (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007) Some “Fun” facts from the book:

• Height of “Angus King” the world’s largest snowman was 11 stories tall and required nearly four months (15 weeks) to melt.
• The first snowman in print was on an illuminated manuscript describing the Crucifixion of Christ.
• Snowmen were blamed for The Massacre of 1690.
• Snowmen were made as an early form of pornography in The Miracle of 1511.
  • De sneeuwpoppen van 1511 is the only book to tell the 

In New York Magazine, there is an interesting article written by Jerry Saltz that asks, Where Are All the Women? at the MoMA. The author states that the:

MoMA is our fountain of youth, our Garden of Eden, our Promised Land. But all these things will not last much longer if this institution continues excluding women from the display of its permanent collection of painting and sculpture from 1879 to 1969, which lives on the fourth and fifth floors. Everything about this museum rides on the vibrancy and diversity depicted there, and MoMA is allowing that life to drain out. It is slowly turning the history of modernism into a procession of dead presidents and greatest hits, in 

Making its debut at this years Macy’s 81st annual Thanksgiving Day Parade was a brand new 53-foot-tall helium balloon, titled “Rabbit” by local artist Jeff Koons.  It is a new acquisition to the parade’s “Blue Sky Gallery” series.  

“The “Rabbit” is based on the celebrated iconic 1986 sculpture of a reflective stainless steel cast of an inflatable bunny.”

Happy Thanksgiving from the Art & Architecture Division at HSSL. The NYPL Digital Gallery has digitized the “Birds of America” by John James Audubon. This image is “Wild Turkey.” (v.5, pl.287, opp. pg. 42) 

I keep hearing about this sculpture made of milk chocolate titled “My Sweet Lord”. The artist is Cosimo Cavallaro and there has been great debate and controversy surrounding the work. What has gotten the Catholic Church in an uproar is that the sculpture is a nude anatomically correct Jesus Christ (no loin cloth). (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=3740894)
The sculpture was to be part of a traveling exhibition, but because of cancellations and protests it is returning back to a Chelsea art gallery. The Proposition Gallery (www.theproposition.com) is to open an exhibit of the piece along with several other chocolate Catholic icons, from the Virgin Mary to 

Though the weather is weird, one day its shorts the next day a winter coat…and now flowers in bloom everywhere. By now I believe everyone has seen them, those colorful flower decals on the hoods of NYC taxicabs.

Not every one likes them, but they add a little color to the canvas of a busy NY street and have brightened up my days. They are part of a public art program marking the “centennial of the metered taxi in New York.” Children and adults from schools and community programs have painted flowers on adhesive weatherproof panels that are now being applied to the hoods of yellow taxicabs.

To learn more about the art program go to:  

This is our initial Blog entry, we are the Art Collection at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, and would just like to say HELLO. We are intending to provide a blog/ongoing conversation concerning the Art scene in New York, as well as info about interesting books, exhibits, events, buildings, openings, closings, etc…

At this time, we would like to provide a little plug for an upcoming exhibition of Heidi Yockey, wife of Philip, Head of the Celeste Bartos Education Center at the Humanities. It is being held at the Brooklyn Artists Gym, 168 - 7th Street, Brooklyn, New York (http://www.brooklynartistsgym.com/), from November 3rd – 8th. The opening reception