Ice-skating is one of the joys of winter. Or so I believe. (I live in Australia.) Below are some examples of ice-skating in art and illustration. I’ve included some pictures of roller-skating and skateboarding as well.
Margaret Tempest (English, 1892-1982) from Little Grey Rabbit’s Christmas by Alison Uttley 1940Ice skating snowmen ~ c.1910 postcard Illustrated by Arthur Thiele (1860-1936)
Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity
Ice is everywhere: in gas stations, in restaurants, in hospitals, in our homes. Americans think nothing of dropping a few ice cubes into tall glasses of tea to ward off the heat of a hot summer day. Most refrigerators owned by Americans feature automatic ice machines. Ice on-demand has so revolutionized modern life that it’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way—and to overlook what aspects of society might just melt away as the planet warms.
In Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–a Cool History of a Hot Commodity (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2023), journalist and historian Amy Brady shares the strange and storied two-hundred-year-old history of ice in America: from the introduction of mixed drinks “on the rocks,” to the nation’s first-ever indoor ice rink, to how delicacies like ice creams and iced tea revolutionized our palates, to the ubiquitous ice machine in every motel across the US. But Ice doesn’t end in the past. Brady also explores the surprising present-day uses of ice in sports, medicine, and sustainable energy—including cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments and new refrigerator technologies that may prove to be more energy efficient—underscoring how precious this commodity is, especially in an age of climate change.
Jacob Grimmer (1525 – 1590)Winslow Homer ‘Winter – A Skating Scene’ in Harper’s Weekly Jan 25 18681923 Boys and Girls Of Book Land by Nora Archibald Smith Illustrated by Jesse Wilcox Smith Publisher David McKay CoLittle Snowball’s Album 1880s‘Orlando the Marmalade Cat’ by Kathleen HaleLiberty magazine – March 6, 1937 – Walter JohnsonArthur Sarnoff ice skating coupleThe Seven Wonderful Cats, a Rand McNally Giant Book 1956 illustrated by Elizabeth WebbeThe Seven Wonderful Cats, a Rand McNally Giant Book 1956 illustrated by Elizabeth WebbeJean Paul Lemieux Canadian, 1904–1990 Iceskaters on Montmorency, 1939Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947) Les Patineurs (Skaters).R.R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973) 1934 illustration for Letters From Father Christmas, a collection of letters written and illustrated by Tolkien between 1920 and 1943 for his children1960s Lawrence Toynbee, Ice Skating, OxfordThe Wood Street Helpers back cover illustration by Lesley Smith (not by Shirley Hughes!)Enid Blyton’s Poppy Story Book (1950) illustrated by Hilda BoswellRobert J. Lee for ‘This is a Town’ by Polly Curren, 1957Liberty, January 22 1938 by Macaulay ConnerBoys’ Life, January 1914 Norman RockwellMarjorie Cooper illustration for Coronet MagazineTHE BUNNY TWINS a Rand McNally Tip-Top Elf BookHealth Magazine October 1935 Byron De Bolt Vol. 2 No. 10The Open Road For Boys Magazine skating cover art by Henan Fay JrJanvier a French postcard, part of a series showing the months. “P. F. B Serie 3213”1946Meet Babar And His Family by Laurent de Brunhoff 1973Erik Blegvad (1923-2014) from ‘Oddity Land’ by Edward Anthony,1957Brian Shields, Liverpool painter (1951-1997) ice skatingCharles Schulz (1922-2000) ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ 1965 The Magic Word 1953 by Oseeva Valentina Aleksandrovna illustrated by Pakhomov Alexey Fedorovich Skating on the SerpentineHILDA VAN STOCKUM, A Day on Skates, The Story of a Dutch Picnic, 1934David Delamare (1951-2016) modern mermaid illustrationPieter Bruegel the Elder’s Hunters in the Snow pond detailRonald Lampitt (English,1906-1988) – Skating by Moonlight pondKoch Walther, 1907 Leonard Weisgard, 1954Charles Schulz (1922-2000) ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ 1965René Vincent 1934Ice-skating in a Village, Hendrick Avercamp, c. 1610Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters, Hendrick Avercamp, c. 1608Enjoying the Ice, Hendrick Avercamp, c. 1615 – c. 1620Winter Landscape with a Woman and a Youth on a Small Bridge, Skaters and a Gallows in the Distance, Hendrick Avercamp, c. 1620 – c. 1625Hand-colored lithograph; no artist or publisher listed. American, circa 1874Les patineuses, by French painter Jean Béraud (1890)Konstantin Somov Winter. Skating Rink, 1915Charles Lees – Skaters, a Scene on Duddingston LochThe Seven Wonderful Cats Illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe 1956Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935)Harry Anderson ice skating rinkKevin SafeThe Little Golden Funny Book, pictures by J.P.Miller, 1950Mc Call’s Magazine Illustration, January 1916 Cover Constantin Alajalov (1900-1987) 1932Wiebke HasselmannRobert WagtMarco SomàJohanna WrightA Day On Skates, The Story of a Dutch Picnic, Hilda Van Stockum, Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1934It must be true – it was all in the papers by Denys Parsons, illustrated by Ronald Searle, Macdonald & Co, London 1952
A “Billy Elliott on ice” story about following your heart no matter where it takes you. Illustrated by Pura Belpré Illustration Honor Award winner Sara Palacios.
Thornton Utz, cover illustration for the January 1941 issue of Child Life hockeyIce hockey in the yard painting by Genrikh Vereschchagin, USSR, 1980Kiki Skates by Charlotte Steiner 1950 coverKiki Skates by Charlotte Steiner 1950 endpapersKiki Skates by Charlotte Steiner 1950Kiki Skates by Charlotte Steiner 1950Kiki Skates by Charlotte Steiner 1950Lois Lenski THE LITTLE BOY WHO MADE ARABESQUESMade with stock photography and Deep Dream Generator.
