Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Procrastinating, are we? ;-)

What sad, cynical planet where you born on, "mamacita"? 20th century American fruit crate art is amongst the finest illustration and graphic design you could ever lay eyes on. I almost feel sorry for you if you can't appreciate the artistry and craft that went into this work. The uncredited illustrators who made these labels were creative in innumerable ways that helped graphic designers ever since - myself included - do work, or at least try to do work that is informative, attractive, economical, and incidentally, creative. The fact is that this sort of industrial art fetches good money on the collector's market; has done for years and will continue to do so.

Thanks for posting the link to this site, "Ape Lad" as it is new to me. There are a few other really good sites out there devoted to fruit crate art, but this one contains some examples I've never seen before.

What sad, cynical planet were you born on, "mamacita"? 20th century American fruit crate art ranks amongst the finest and most influential graphic design you could wish to see - and perhaps learn from.

Thanks. "Ape Lad" for posting this as it's a link I didn't have and there are many labels here I've never seen before.

Mart, I think mamacita was referring to the fact that I'm looking up label art on the internets rather than packing my belongings. Sadly, mamacita is correct, but that was last night. Now I've packed 5 whole boxes!
Also, I grew up admiring citrus label art so it's nice to see it's finding a following online.

I've ordered my provisions from a food co-op for years, and have often had to stop to admire the food crate art. I sometimes wondered how dispersed the artists were over the industry, or if there was a specialty house that did most of it.