When Christmas was prohibit

While Christmas is celebrated globally, throughout history, various nations and regions have banned Christmas celebrations for religious, political, or ideological reasons.

These bans ranged from 17th-century religious reformations to 20th-century state-sponsored atheism.

Even today, in 2025, there are nations that maintain strict bans or significant restrictions on Christmas celebrations.

A 1931 edition of the Soviet magazine Bezbozhnik, published by the League of Militant Atheists, depicting an Orthodox Christian priest being forbidden to take home a tree for the celebration of Christmastide, which was banned under the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of state atheism.

Norman Rockwell's Silent Night: A Visual Symphony of Holiday Humanity

Norman Rockwell's (1894-1978) skilled hand captured the most heartwarming holiday moments as no one else could.

Over his career, he produced nearly 30 Christmas-themed covers for The Saturday Evening Post, The Literary Digest and numerous others for publications like McCall's and Boys' Life, as well as for cards and advertisements.

Ekaterina Vassilenko Searcy | Ballet dancers

Ekaterina Vassilenko Searcy /Екатерина Василенко Сирси is a Russian-born American figurative and portrait painter, living and working in San Diego, California.

Her drawings and oil paintings respect the technique and style of old masters of Renaissance and baroque period of Italian, Flemish, French and Russian masters.

Christine Peloquin | Mixed media painter

Christine Peloquin is a 2-D mixed media artist who has been selling her artwork for 30 years.

She is currently showing her work at Arts on Douglas Gallery in New Smyrna Beach, Bennett Galleries in Knoxville, TN, and Studio E Gallery in Palm Beach Gardens.

She has also shown in numerous galleries around the country including Atelier Galleries in Asheville, NC and Charleston, SC, Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA, Longstreth-Goldberg Gallery in Naples, Hanson Gallery, Knoxville, TN, Loretta Goodwin Gallery, Birmingham, AL, Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO, Orlando Museum of Art Gift Shop and Kristal Gallery, Sugarbush, VT to name a few.

Erin Hanson, 1981 | Impressionist painter

Hanging precariously and horizontally from red sandstone, hundreds of feet above the ground, may not seem like it would inspire the creation of beautiful oil paintings, but that is exactly what happened with Erin Hanson.

After a lifetime of experimenting in different styles and mediums, it wasn’t until Hanson began rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon that her painting style was consolidated by a single inspiration and force of nature.

Matt Abraxas, 1974 | Figurative painter

- "Being an artist of any medium usually goes hand-in-hand with being a frequent ponderer.

It’s this reverie of deep questions and contrarian considerations that often leads one to pursuing art.

Maybe it’s because art allows for nebulous thoughts to take satisfactory form rather than burn and rot the soul" - Matt Abraxas.

George Lundeen, 1948 | Departure / La partenza, 1986

"Departure", installed in the park near the library in Loveland, CO, is a life size bronze sculpture by the American artist, George Lundeen.

According to the artist, "The original piece came from a sketch I did in the Rome train station.

There were a couple of kids across from me on the marble floor.

It became the first life-size piece I ever did".

Classical Realism by William Whitaker Jr.

American painter William Whitaker Jr. (1943-2018) is an artist who has been at the forefront of painting's representational revival during recent years.

The only son of an artist father, William Whitaker Jr. grew up in the special world of the working artist.

He had access to the finest art materials and was painting in watercolor and oil at the age of six.

His fondest early memories are of the sights sounds and smells of the art studio.

Whitaker loves to paint from life in an old fashioned studio.

Sarah Myers, 1980 | Figurative sculptor

Sarah Myers lives and works in Arizona.

As a child her fascination for the artwork in museums - and even for ancient artifacts - formed her feeling that art was the language of a world filled with splendor and possibility.

She continues this today with her love of human expressions, depicting heads, hands, movement, vitality in a range of mediums from line drawing and painting to ceramic sculpture.

Laura Lee Zanghetti | Figurative painter

Laura Lee Zanghetti is an Award winning self taught artist who mainly works in oils.

She paints full time and enjoys a number of different techniques and styles of painting in her home studio in Walpole MA.

Her favorite subjects vary from beach scenes to cityscapes and her latest.... "umbrella ladies".

She's been painting full time for the past 13 years in her home studio in Walpole.

Keith Perelli, 1968 | Surrealist painter

Keith Perelli is a figurative artist exploring male portraiture through the lens of personal, social and political issues.

The abstract and surrealist sensibilities in his work stems from both his interest in the work produced and taught at the University of New Orleans by prominent local professors in the field of painting.

His graduate work at the University of Cincinnati in sculpture and installation focused on the on complex social and political ramifications of HIV and and the AIDS crisis of the 80ś and 90ś.

Martin Pate | Ballet Dancers

Martin Pate graduated with honors from Ringling School of Art in 1981.

His figurative works won acclaim in the Sarasota area by such notables as Thornton Utz who declared a life drawing by Martin as the best work in the 1981 student show.

His love of figurative works has led to numerous commissions over the last 30+ years including a 20+ year association with the National Park Service.

Martin's personal paintings and drawings have won awards in local, regional and national shows.

Steven Quartly, 1971 | Modern impressionist painter

Steve Quartly from his studio in Southern California creates oils on canvas, specializing in Contemporary Impressionism.

Quartly’s dedication to painting the world he sees, has contributed to his vibrant works.

A plain white canvas becomes a beautiful European city scene, a Mediterranean seascape or a warm California Landscape.

Glenna Goodacre | Figurative sculptor

Glenna Goodacre’s (1939-2020) sculptures are immediately recognizable for their unique expression, texture, design and movement.

Beginning as a painter provided a foundation for her first bronzes created in 1969.

She has since created over 600 different works, the most well-known of which is the Vietnam Women’s Memorial installed in Washington, D.C. in 1993.

Her largest piece is the massive Irish Memorial created in 2002 for Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia.

Daniel Del Orfano, 1968 | Romantic painter

Daniel Del Orfano is an American painter, known for working in the Romantic Figurative style.

Through the combination of his simple palette of fiery, emotionally driven reds and his creative use of shadows, Del Orfano raises the temperature in these sensual and seductive paintings.

Even Del Orfano's trademark "Red Umbrella" is prominently portrayed in a playful, creative manner.

John Currin, 1962 | Figurative painter

John Currin is an American painter based in New York City.

He is most recognised for his technically proficient satirical figurative paintings that explore controversial societal topics.

His work shows a wide range of influences, including sources as diverse as the Renaissance, popular culture magazines, and contemporary fashion models.

He often distorts or exaggerates the erotic forms of the female body, and has stressed that his characters are reflections of himself rather than inspired by real people.

Lorenzo Quinn, 1966 | Figurative sculptor

Contemporary Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn is a leading figurative sculptor whose work is inspired by such masters as Michelangelo, Bernini and Rodin.

Exhibited internationally, his monumental public art and smaller, more intimate pieces transmit his passion for eternal values and authentic emotions.

He is best known for expressive recreations of human hands:

"I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body", he asserts.

"The hand holds so much power - the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy".

Nikki Marie-Smith | Mixed-media painter

Nikki Marie Smith is an artist, mother,and entrepreneur. She creates themed art, including a music-inspired series, and received the FAA Artistic Merit Award.

"- I am an artist, a mother, and an entrepreneur. I'm passionate about music and color and seek to convey the transformative power of music through my paintings.

My artwork and tutorials have been regularly featured in Cloth Paper Scissors and Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES magazines.

Robert De Niro, Sr | Abstract Expressionist painter

Robert Henry De Niro, better known as Robert De Niro, Sr. (May 3, 1922 - May 3, 1993) was an American abstract expressionist painter and the father of actor Robert De Niro.

Robert De Niro, Sr., was born in Syracuse, New York, to an Italian American father, Henry Martin De Niro (1897–1976), whose parents emigrated from Ferrazzano, in the province of Campobasso, Molise, and an Irish American mother, Helen M. (née O'Reilly; 1899–1999).

He was the eldest of three children; he and siblings John and Joan were raised in Syracuse, New York.

Daniel Del Orfano | Romantic umbrella

" - I aspire to blend old fashion artistic integrity with modern perception.

My paintings depict life, not as it may be, but more as it is remembered- a snapshot, not of a particular moment, but of an overall memory.

It is the beauty of the emotion felt at an exacting time that I attempt to portray.

Trying to capture the romantic yet realistic view one has of everyday life is at the root of all my work".