Description
Mexico and Canada are colored bright red, and coastlines are outlined in blue. The oceans are covered in a blue and white pattern and decorated with pictures of fish and marine life. Small inset maps of the U.S. in three corners highlight the relative degree of production of “Meats & Fish, Poultry, and Grains” in different parts of the country. A fourth map shows the locations of buyers, warehouses and regions served by stores of the A&P Organization. A text box along the lower part of the map gives an idealized account of the Westward Expansion as it related to increasing farmland, and describes how industrial and technological progress advanced the growing, processing and transportation of food: “Seasons and distances have been wiped out. We can reach out a hand and draw our daily food from the farthest corners of the land.” The map is enclosed within a geometric border and heavy black outline.
At the time this poster was produced, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company was a major American corporation — the largest grocery retailer in the United States from 1915 to 1975, and until 1965, the largest U.S. retail chain of any kind. The David Rumsey Map Collection has a related example of this map with an additional medallion design over Mexico indicating that it was produced for the A&P Carnival exhibition at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.
Louis Delton Fancher, an American illustrator and genre artist, spent most of his career in New York City. Born in Minneapolis, he studied in the U.S. with Henry Siddons Mowbray, Robert Henri, and Kenyon Cox, as well as abroad in Italy and Germany. Felton served in World War I as a captain in the U.S. Army Intelligence Division and created posters for the U.S. Committee on Public Information. After the war, he created posters, books, magazines and advertising art, and also worked in the film industry at studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and on Long Island. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Plampin Litho Company was located in New York City. They produced posters advertising movies, travel destinations, and other subjects by John Held, Jr., Sascha A. Maurer, and Louis D. Fancher.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, soft creases. Folds as issued, some with minor separations and light discoloration along the fold lines and minor openings at the fold intersections. Original envelope very good with light wear. Seller can have the map professionally flattened and backed with Japanese tissue for framing for an additional expense to the Purchaser of approximately $350.
References:
“A Food Map of the United States.” David Rumsey Map Collection. https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~290332~90061898:A-Food-Map-of-the-United-States- (27 October 2020).
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1985. p. 194.
Patterson, Michael Robert, ed. “Louis Delton Fancher.” Arlington National Cemetery. 14 January 2008. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ldfancher.htm (27 October 2020).
“Plampin Litho Co., Inc. NYC.” National Gallery of Art. 2020. https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.48966.html (27 October 2020).
“The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company.” Wikipedia. 26 October 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Atlantic_%26_Pacific_Tea_Company (27 October 2020).
