• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Recent Additions
  • The Gallery
    • About
    • Browse by Topic
    • eBay
    • Sorry, It’s Sold
  • Guarantee & Policies
    • Guarantee
    • Shipping & Payment
    • Amazon.com Shipping Information
    • eBay Buyer Protection
  • Contact & Social Media
    • E-mail & Phone
    • eBay
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Grapefruit Moon Gallery

Original Art from the Grand Age of American Illustration

  • Gallery Blog
  • Golden Gallery
  • Fine & Decorative
  • Illustration & Advertising
  • Paperback & Pulp
  • Pin-Up & Glamour
Illustration & Advertising Art

It’s a Busy World When You’re Five

Artist:John Rae
Date:1925
Medium:Oil on Stretched Canvas
Dimensions:Sight Size 16" x 21" Framed 26" x 18"
Condition:Excellent
Original Use:Cream Of Wheat Advertisement
Price:$8,500.00  $5,950.00
Framed view
Framed view
Detail
Detail
Detail
Detail
Detail
Detail

 

A whimsical and delicately rendered oil-on-canvas by John Rae embodying the artist’s unique mix of pointillism and impressionism. Rae, a student of Howard Pyle, was commissioned to create this delightful painting in 1925 for a Cream Of Wheat advertisement titled “It’s a Busy World When You’re Five.” The image features a rollicking street scene with an organ grinder and monkey entertaining children and neighborhood pets. This painting is featured as a full page insert on page 105 of Dave Stiver’s book The Nabisco Brands Collection of Cream of Wheat Advertising Art, and comes nicely framed.

Verso labels for Cream of Wheat
Verso labels for Cream of Wheat
Verso
Verso
Full view
Full view

Selections from the rich Cream of Wheat collection of original art, including this painting, were loaned out in the late 1980s for a touring gallery exhibition. None of the original paintings commissioned for Cream of Wheat advertising have ever been available for sale. Each original piece of artwork used in Cream of Wheat advertising was carefully stored and archived at the Cream of Wheat headquarters in northeast Minneapolis. The unusual care taken to protect this thorough, well-maintained archive is testament to the foresight of Emery Mapes, who presided over the Cream of Wheat advertising campaign. Most advertising illustration in the early 20th century was considered expendable, and was quickly destroyed, lost or thrown away. Mapes insisted upon treating the art as art, and employed the finest talents working as illustrators to help developed Cream of Wheat’s folksy nostalgic iconography. Counted among the artists Mapes recruited are N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith, Phillip Goodwin, J.C. Leyendecker, James Montgomery Flagg and Edward V. Brewer. With the help of this stable of talent, the Cream of Wheat advertising campaign came to define some of the most enduring visions of American hearth and home.

It’s a Busy World When You’re Five

Artist: John Rae
Price: $8,500.00  $5,950.00

Filed Under: Illustration & Advertising Art
Tagged With: 1920s, advertising, american, child, Cream of Wheat, John Rae
Added to Gallery: October 12, 2017

 

Contact Grapefruit Moon Gallery



    Primary Sidebar

    Join our mailing list

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery Around the Web

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Pinterest
    Twitter

    Recent Additions

    Gone With the Wind

    Pigeon Feathers

    Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car

    Footer

    About Grapefruit Moon Gallery

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery, based in Minneapolis MN, specializes in vintage pin up and original illustration art.  We are the proud home of the Bunny Yeager archives.

    Since 2003, Grapefruit Moon Gallery has been a leading dealer of exclusive original paintings by Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Earl Moran, Rolf Armstrong and Henry Clive, as well as vintage photographs, prints, and period decorative arts in ceramic and metal.

    All artworks featured are original, accurately represented, and guaranteed to be the work of the named artist.

    Interested buyers may view pieces by appointment and we are happy to answer any questions you may have. [Contact Us]

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on eBay

     

    Grapefruit Moon Gallery on Instagram

    View on Instagram

    Copyright © 2023