In a departure from a traditional Christmas card based on a photograph, Margaret (“Peg”) Collins created the 1954 card by sketching a family portrait. An intriguing feature of this artwork is that she is shown sketching the topic at hand.
Peg Collins was a talented artist, a student of Grant Wood in high school and later a member of the local “regionalist school” of art whose members included Grant Wood, Marvin Cone, and Arnold Pyle (later head of Personnel at Collins Radio Co.).
Following her marriage to Arthur Collins, she had to forego an acceptance to the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago in order to devote full time to the founding of Collins Radio in 1931. This Christmas card was one of her last artworks, preceding her untimely death on December 29, 1955.