Landscape with United Nations Headquarters Building
In this illustration, one can see typical stenographic outlines defining various buildings and structures that surround and include United Nations Headquarters, the image is superimposed with the United Nations flag. In addition to the midtown skyline, the artist was so enamored with the Brooklyn Bridge that he included the structure in the artwork despite its remoteness from the United Nations building.
This United Nations building illustration was donated to UNICEF for a greeting card. The UNICEF greeting card program began in 1950 with much success and continues today. Many greeting card shops have UNICEF cards. Funds raised benefit children and the artists, including Raoul Dufy, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and many more, who donated their efforts for the UNICEF greeting card fund raising program. UNICEF loaned the artwork to the United Nations in 1979.
Raoul Dufy (1877 – 1953) was a French painter who worked in the Fauvist style, a style that favoured brush stroke and colour over realistic definitions. He was an accomplished draftsman, printmaker, illustrator, and designer of furniture and public spaces. His style was colourful, decorative, fashionable, and highly prized in many museum collections. The artist participated in donating this design to UNICEF greeting card program before 1953.
In 1951, UNICEF started fundraising independently from the 缅北禁地and introduced the sale of greeting cards. The intent was to use these as a means to educate the world about the pressing needs of its less fortunate children, and as a source of badly needed funds to meet those needs. For this reason, in 1952, Dufy was asked to create a design specifically for this use, further establishing a tradition for the future. He was one of the first of many world-renowned artists that created and donated their pieces to UNICEF.