Placemat: Kurth Malting Company

Placemat set commission for the Kurth Malting Company.: PKM collection. Images: PKM, unless noted.
Placemat set commission for the Kurth Malting Company.

PKM collection. Images: PKM, unless noted.

Name/Title

Placemat: Kurth Malting Company

Description

A commissioned placemat set for the Kurth Malting Company, one of the largest suppliers of malt to the American beer industry, now known as Fleischmann Kurth Malting Company of Chicago. It is likely this set was commissioned as an executive gift for an annual company meeting and/or banquet. Placemat: a five-screen/six-color silkscreen print on off-white linen depicting the raw materials, tools and vessels needed to produce and serve alcohol. Shocks of wheat, hand tools, pitchers, a decanter, bottles and a still fill the right and left margins. Napkin: a five-color silkscreen print on off-white linen depicting stalks of wheat, a hand sickle, and a brownware jug of alcohol marked “XXX”. This set is pictured in production photos taken at the Country Print workshop c.1960; see images.

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Robert Darr Wert

Role

Artist

Manufacturer

Country Prints

Date made

circa 1960

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Placemats: “wert by hand”, lower right corner. Napkin: unsigned.

Dimensions

Width

17-1/2 in

Depth

11-3/4 in

Materials

Material

Bleached Linen, Textile Ink, Flecked Paper

Material Notes

Flecked paper is the Country Prints tag.

Colors

Color

Yellow Ochre, Light Brown, Green, Red, Black, Copper

Color Notes

Copper is produced by overprinting yellow ochre and red.