Even though he is sometimes incorrectly credited with creating the modern visual interpretation of Santa Claus, that doesn’t detract from the beautiful job illustrator Haddon Sundblom did of interpreting the character in his 20th century illustrations for the Coca-Cola Company.
The image above is from an exhibition of Sundblom’s Santa Paintings at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art in 2013, large version here.
The distinction of fleshing out a visual interpretation of Santa is spread through the history of several illustrators, starting with Thomas Nast, and with most credit for refinement of the image of the Jolly One closest to its current state going to J.C. Leyendecker, in my opinion.
For more, see my 2006 post on Illustrators’ Visions of Santa Claus, and my 2013 follow-up post, Illustrators’ Visions of Santa Claus (update), in which I show the illustrators involved in chronological order, including Sundblom.
See also my previous posts on Haddon Sundblom and Haddon Sundblom Santas, as well as some of the other illustrators who helped frame our modern interpretation, linked below.