American Artists Group (AAG) is a greeting card company that aims to popularize contemporary American art by publishing fine reproductions of original paintings, drawings, lithographs, engravings, and etchings by prominent American artists on greeting cards, specifically Christmas cards. American Artists was founded in New York City in 1934 by Samuel Golden (1895-1963), a New York printer who had previously specialized in theatrical publicity materials and was the owner of Artcraft Lithograph & Printing Co., Inc. The group began with thirty-eight members and included famous artists such as Rockwell Kent (1882-1971), Mahonri Young (1877-1957), Diego Rivera (1886-1957), and Wanda Gag (1893-1946).

The artists in the group represent a cross-section of American artistic styles and mediums. Many were fine artists who worked in social realism and American Regionalism, such as Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Grant Wood (1891-1942), and John Steuart Curry (1897-1946), while others pursued careers in illustration and graphic art, such as Peggy Bacon (1895-1987), Barney Tobey (1906-1989), and Tasha Tudor (1915-2008). Artists retained their copyright and were paid a ten-percent royalty for their work, in alignment with Samuel Golden’s socialist principles. This contrasted with the typical greeting card business model, in which an artist’s work was purchased outright.

Harry Wickey (1892-1968), a printmaker and lifelong friend of Samuel Golden, and art dealer and curator Carl Zigrosser (1891-1975) were early supporters of AAG and were important to the group's initial success. Zigrosser was the founder and director of Weyhe Gallery in New York City from 1919 to 1940, then curator of prints and drawings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1940 to 1963. AAG’s founding vision was three-fold: to provide income for artists struggling during the Great Depression, to democratize American art by bringing it into the average person’s home in accessible ways, and to elevate the quality of Christmas cards on the market, which Golden felt had become tawdry and substandard.

AAG Christmas cards were sold in department and stationery stores across the country, both in Personalized Greetings sample albums, from which a customer could select a card design to be printed with their name and a personalized greeting, and as solid packs and assortments. The cards were offered in two main lines: American Artists Group, which featured reproductions of paintings and fine art, and Designers and Illustrators, which focused on drawings and illustrations and often had a lighter, whimsical tone. Additional lines, such as Golden Album, Christmas Omnibus, and Jubilee were offered at various times, as well as specialty lines created for specific department stores, such as Lord & Taylor and Bergdorf Goodman. Some lines were offered by separate companies established and run by the Golden family, such as the Irene Dash Greeting Card Co., which Golden named after his daughter, Irene Golden Dash (1921-2021). That company produced cards that were advertised and presented in single-artist albums, many of which were women.

Although Christmas cards remained the focus of AAG activities, the business also sold prints; published books, including a series of artist monographs; produced calendars; and pursued the occasional non-Christmas line, such as the Art in Correspondence social stationery set during the 1950s. Additionally, AAG regularly exhibited original artwork in touring exhibitions across the country in places ordinary people might visit like schools, libraries, and bookstores.

Samuel Golden married Bella Lasker Golden (1896-1997) in 1917. The couple had two children, Irene Golden Dash and Allen P. Golden (1925-2004). Allen Golden and Irene Dash’s husband, Martin Dash (1920-2015), both worked with Samuel Golden; following Samuel Golden’s death in 1963, Allen Golden and Martin Dash took over operations as vice presidents, with Allen Golden handling the company’s relationships with its artists and Martin Dash leading the business. At its peak, American Artists Group comprised more than 400 artists. The business was forced to contract during the economic recession of the early 1980s, shutting down the Artcraft Lithograph & Printing Co., Inc. printing operations and selling off its equipment. AAG cards shifted to a distribution model under Masterpiece Studios, Inc., and later Birchcraft Studios.

Martin Dash retired in 2000. His daughter, Deena Dash Kushner (1949- ), took over as president of the company in 2001, which continues to produce a limited number of cards reproduced from earlier designs.