Red Circle orange-crate label for McDermont Fruit Company, Riverside

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Red Circle orange-crate label for McDermont Fruit Company, Riverside

circa 1938
Prints; lithographs
Offset lithography
9 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (23.5 x 26.04 cm)
Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund (M.2010.118.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Once an exotic treat, California citrus was an American staple by the 1930s, thanks to advances in shipping and refrigeration....
Once an exotic treat, California citrus was an American staple by the 1930s, thanks to advances in shipping and refrigeration. California fruit growers affixed appealing labels to their crates to ensure that oranges and lemons were inextricably associated with the state in the minds of consumers. While early labels showed images of pastoral bounty, in the 1920s and 1930s many companies hired professional commercial artists to design energetic abstractions, reminding buyers that accessible citrus was a modern convenience.

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
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Bibliography

  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los  Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011.
  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. 

Exhibition history

  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery, July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" South Brisbane, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
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