Name/Title
Placemat: Kurth Malting CompanyDescription
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 in May 1957; see images. Year based on CP products on view in a photo set of the workshop, specifically Country Pokes tote bags, which were introduced in 1957, as per a January 19, 1957 article in the Greenfield Recorder-Gazette.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Robert Darr WertRole
ArtistManufacturer
Country PrintsDate made
1957Inscription/Signature/Marks
Placemats: “wert by hand”, lower right corner.
Napkin: unsigned.Dimensions
Width
17-1/2 inDepth
11-3/4 inMaterials
Material
Bleached Linen, Textile Ink, Flecked PaperMaterial Notes
Flecked paper is the Country Prints tag.Colors
Color
Yellow Ochre, Light Brown, Green, Red, Black, CopperColor Notes
Copper is produced by overprinting yellow ochre and red.
