This is one of a selection of original Christmas Greetings Card that I am listing in my shop. They were all designed and printed by Robin Philipson (1916 – 1992).
Every year he would create a personal lithographic Christmas card and print these at the print room at the Edinburgh College of Art.
Philipson produced these cards from 1964 right up until 1991. These cards are all original lithographic prints by him - and inside are all signed inside by the artist / his family as shown.
This one is a another quirky Christmas image. It shows two of his iconic Kings dressed as Santas. They are playing musical instruments. In the centre is a little oblong cartouche with an image of a little girl in a standing pose (possibly one of his children). Below, there is a wide margin or plinth or little angels playing instruments and a shadowy image in the centre where Philipson has been experimenting with photographic images and wax resists. The image looks like it could be images of his children.
This is a rather rarer example of one of his cards - and although not dated - it probably dates to the 1970s.
Robin Philipson was born in 1916 in Broughton-in-Furness. He moved to Scotland in 1930, and studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1936 to 1940, becoming a lecturer there in 1947.
He was a significant and influential presence in the Scottish art scene for more than three decades. He is particularly renowned for his cockfight paintings, a series began in the early 1950s. His later work in the 1960s explored more general figurative studies plus church and cathedral interiors and crucifixions.
Prestigious appointments included being Head of School of Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art, and later President of the Royal Scottish Academy. He received many honours throughout his life including being knighted for service to the arts in Scotland in 1976.
This card has a relatively early date - and as such is a rarer one that you do not see very often.
The work has an ingenious frame. The image has a nice clean window mount on it. When you turn the frame over you can see that it also has glass on the back, so that you can see the artist's signature. There is an inscription on the back: Christmas Greeting from Robin and Thora (his first wife).
The gold wooden frame is 37 x 32.5 cm. The image of the card is 24.7 x 19.5 cm.
I have take lots of images for your inspection so that you can see all the details of this special Christmas piece.
It will be sent to you in the UK with Parcelforce24. This will be applied to your order at the checkout. This postage prices have just gone up again, argggh - and I don't make profit from posting.