152 / 254
OTIS SHEPARD (1894-1969)
196
●
HEALTHFUL • REFRESHING • DELICIOUS / DOUBLEMINT GUM. Trolley Card.
Circa 1939.
10
1
/
2
x41
1
/
2
inches, 26
3
/
4
x105
1
/
2
cm.
Condition A: crease at upper edge, slightly into image. Printed on card. Framed.
Shepard’s career began in 1917 with the Foster and Kleiser Outdoor Advertising Company in San
Francisco. By 1927, he was in charge of America’s “first, full-scale outdoor poster art department, and
a few years later he became the Chief Creative Director for the entire F&K organization” (Strauss p.
68). In 1930, he moved to New York City and within two years had made his first posters for Wrigley’s,
the gum company. For the next 30 years, he served the company exclusively. His work “seduced the
public with beautiful imagery; the pictures never seemed tired, never suffered from repetition, yet
were comfortably continuous in each theme” (Strauss p. 74). Tom Purvis, in
Poster Progress
, noted
that “Otis Shepard, in his prolific work for Wrigley’s has found a happy balance between humor and
formal qualities of design.”
[600/900]
196
197