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| Dandy To Me |
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| Artist: | School of Grace Drayton |
| Date: | 1930 |
| Medium: | Goauche on illustration board |
| Dimensions: | Sight size 9" by 10" framed 19 1/2" by 23 1/2" |
| Condition: | Excellent |
| Original Use: | Interior Advertising for Campbell's Soup - Saturday Evening Post |
| Price: | $1800.00
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| Above: Image of Campbell's Soup Kid with stock market ticker machine |
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| Above: View before framing with print usage notations in margins |
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| Above: Detail of Saturday Evening Post full page add dated October 18, 1930 |
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| Above: Framed and matted behind glass in antique shabby chic frame |
One of the more surreal takes on the 1929 stock market crash which led to the Great Depression is on view in this October 1930 Campbell's Soup advertisement which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. A Campbell's Soup Kid reads the latest stock news from a state of the art glass domed stock ticker machine. Wishful text reads "The news that I'm reading look's dandy to me. Like a plateful of Campbell's Which fills me with glee." This original illustration painting is a supremely odd example of Americana advertising. I wonder how they topped that one? Showing one of these cherubic little creatures playing with John Dillinger's loaded revolver?
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| Above: Detail |
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| Above: Notations |
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| Above: Notations in margins |
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| Above: Verso inkstamp |
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| Above: Full page add of image from October 1930 Saturday Evening Post |
Along with Cream of Wheat and Coca-Cola, Campbell's soup created some of the most iconic and duplicated advertising campaigns in twentieth century American advertising history. By the 1930s Campbell's soup had a stable of illustrators that worked very closely in the style Grace Drayton developed for the Campbell's Soup Kids characters. It is unknown whether this is by the hand of Grace Drayton or another American illustrator. A fresh Connecticut estate find and guaranteed to be an original published Campbell's Soup illustration painting.
The Mother of Campbell Kids - Grace Wiederseim Drayton:
The Campbell Kids have been selling Campbell's Soup since 1904 when Grace Wiederseim Drayton, an illustrator and writer, added some sketches of children to her husband's advertising layout for a Campbell's condensed soup. The Campbell advertising agents loved the child appeal and choose Mrs. Wiederseim's sketches as trademarks. In the beginning, Campbell Kids were drawn as ordinary boys and girls, later, Campbell Kids took on the personas of policemen, sailors, soldiers, and other professions.
Grace Wiederseim Drayton will always be the "mother" of Campbell Kids. She drew for the company advertising for nearly twenty years. Drayton's designs were so popular that doll makers wanted to capitalized on their popularity. Campbell's gave the E. I. Horsemen Company the license to market dolls with the Campbell label on their sleeves. Horseman even secured two U.S. design patents for the dolls' clothes.
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| Above: Andy Warhol Campbells Soup artwork at new York City Museum |
Today, Campbell's Soup Company, with its famous red and white label, remains a staple in the kitchen as well as American culture.
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