Above: “The Filling Station”

Above: Detail

Above: Framed in quarter sawn oak 1920’s antique museum quality frame

A clever and playful oil on canvas by Edward Vincent Brewer. This 1922 Cream of Wheat advertising painting titled “The Filling Station” features a young cherubic lad on a soap box derby car devised from a Cream of Wheat crate. Iconic chef “Rastus” is posed in the doorway of The Cream of Wheat Inn, a prop Brewer used in many of these Americana themed works. The “Inn” was actually Brewer’s St Paul, MN studio on his Mississippi River bluff estate. Brewer purchased the former Lake Street bridge keepers house to use as a studio. The Lake Street Bridge is one of the iconic Minnesota landmarks which runs over the mighty Mississippi that divides Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Above: Detail

Above: verso view

Above: The artist’s signature

Between 1911 and 1926 Edward Brewer created 102 original paintings for the Cream of Wheat Company. We will be unveiling 16 of these works in the coming weeks. Brewer’s style is often compared to that of Norman Rockwell; both artists relied on familiar surroundings, family and friends and captured the innocence of childhood and the traditional values of family life. Framed in a period 1920’s Arts & Crafts aesthetic antique oak frame with a published full page tear sheet of artwork included in sale.

Above: Verso notations

Above: Detail of Frame