Cream of Wheat for "Sail"

Cream of Wheat for "Sail"
Cream of Wheat for "Sail"

Cream of Wheat for "Sail"

Date1912
Artist (American illustrator and painter, 1878–1966)
Illustration CitationAdvertisement for Cream of Wheat cereal
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions24 × 18 in. (61 × 45.7 cm)
frame: 27 1/2 × 21 1/2 × 1 3/8 in. (69.9 × 54.6 × 3.5 cm)
Credit LineGift of Sharon S. Galm, 2010
Object number2010-25
On View
On view
ClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextLike Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and Uncle Ben’s rice, Cream of Wheat used the image of a Black cook to sell their product—a breakfast porridge. Cream of Wheat’s fictional cook, Rastus, was based on racist caricatures popularized in the Uncle Remus books and minstrel shows. The company required that illustrators include this figure in their advertisements. In 2020, Cream of Wheat ceased using this figure on their packaging.

Katharine Richardson Wireman was one of many celebrated illustrators sought out by the Cream of Wheat Company for its advertising campaign begun in 1896. The artist's daughter Mary was the model for this ad which, like others of its type, often appeared inside the front covers of leading magazines. Here the little girl seems to have torn out such a page for her impromptu sail.


Cover
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1925
Cover
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1912
Cover
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1916
© SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum…
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1923
God's Gift of Night
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1935
© Estate of the artist or Publisher. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not fo…
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1929
© Estate of the artist or Publisher. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not fo…
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1930
© Estate of the artist or Publisher. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not fo…
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1930
© Artist or Publisher. Photograph and digital image © Delaware Art Museum. Not for reproduction…
Katharine Richardson Wireman
1948