Name/Title
Towel, Wallhanging: Red Lobster U235Description
A two-color silkscreen print on natural linen depicting a large lobster, lobster pots and buoys, two seagulls, a lobster boat, and a dock with a fisherman’s shack.
This Country Prints design is absent Wert’s usual signature. At the end of the dock, the final decking board at right bears the signature “WINANT” (partly legible). An eBay vendor selling another example of this print with a legible signature identified the artist as Massachusetts resident Al Winant, demonstrating that Wert occasionally employed outside artists in the 1960’s.
This print appears in the brochure “Country Prints by Robert Darr Wert and Neighbors”, c.1963; see images. It was offered on a choice of off-white linen and natural linen. This example is printed on natural linen.
A matching tile and apron were also produced; see images. These items were available singly or in matched gift sets. Note: an example of the matching apron has not been documented.
At some point in the late 1960’s, this design was taken out of the Country Prints line and transferred to the contract line they were producing for the Bromley & Co. gift showroom of Boston (who also represented Country Prints). The artist, Al Winant, also produced artwork for the Bromley towel Thoroughbreds 253.
Country Prints produced this print for several years in the 1960’s. It is amongst dozens of Country Prints towel/wallhanging designs sold to Stevens Linen Associates, Inc., of Dudley, Massachusetts, in January 1969. Stevens continued to produce these designs without the Wert/Country Prints identifiers throughout the 1970’s-80’s.
This towel/wallhanging appears on a c.1965 promotional postcard for Bromley & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, Country Prints’ New England wholesale representative to the gift trade.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Al WinantRole
Freelance ArtistManufacturer
Country PrintsDate made
circa 1962Time Period
20th CenturyPlace
Location
Gill MA.Continent
North AmericaNotes
Upper edge is a rod pocket to accept a dowel for hanging, lower edge is hemmed, sides are selvedges.Inscription/Signature/Marks
“© COUNTRY PRINTS”, lower left corner; “WINANT by hand - all linen”, lower right corner.Dimensions
Height
29-1/2 inWidth
16-1/2 inMaterial
Unbleached Linen, Textile Ink
