Santa Claus, meet Mona Lisa.
Ten original oil paintings by American illustrator Haddon Sundblom, cheery portraits of Santa Claus created for Coca-Cola advertisements from the 1930s to the 1960s, will be on show in an exhibition in the Louvre, Paris.The exhibition, "Art or Advertising?" looks at how advertising has brought art into popular awareness. It runs from Dec. 20-Feb. 29, 1996, in Le Carrousel du Louvre, one of the French museum's galleries.
This is the first time any works from the collection of 40 original Sundblom oil paintings, on loan from the Atlanta archives of the Coca-Cola Co., have been seen in Paris. After the first rosy-cheeked Santa appeared in 1931, the character as Sundblom portrayed him became a huge favorite.
Visitors to the exhibition may also ponder the evolution of the pop-drink's curvy bottle; inspect around 60 other original oil paintings commissioned for advertisements; view a video retrospective of Coca-Cola television commercials and a selection of cardboard display pieces, both period and present-day.
Though they were originally created for marketing purposes, said exhibition curator Gerard Chulot, "the value of these works as a form of art has endured because they strike an emotional chord with consumers."