In our continuing efforts to expand our collection of vintage imagery we’ve just recently added a new category of vintage posters: food! These posters would be the perfect addition to the decor of any kitchen or dining room, bringing a touch of vintage charm to the spaces where we most commonly enjoy food in our homes.
How to Display Vintage Posters
There are myriad ways to display our museum-quality reproduction prints of vintage posters. They can be displayed framed with countless frame styles, or as stretched canvases hung directly on the wall. They can be arranged into a gallery wall, or standalone to make a statement. We offer our prints in a range of sizes to ensure you can get exactly what you need, and we offer prints on both paper and canvas. No matter your preferences, we’ve got you covered.
The Perfect Addition to Kitchen or Dining Room Decor
Food is a huge part of our everyday lives, and although it may end up in any room of the house, most of our experiences with food end up being in the kitchen and dining room. Whether preparing food or enjoying a meal with others, these rooms in our homes center around food. So why not decorate these spaces with that in mind?
Our vintage food posters make the perfect unique decor for your kitchen or dining room. With their nostalgic charm, they’re sure to draw viewers in and start a conversation. Several of these posters are a century old, making them windows into the past. While their messages were meant for a different time, the themes are often still relevant or useful today.
Wartime Influence on Poster Advertisements
Today, the everyday lives of civilians aren’t as directly impacted by distant wars as they used to be. In previous eras, it was common for people at home to feel the shortages caused by the increased demands of war. Food and supplies were desperately needed to support the war effort, and regular citizens were expected to do their part to help conserve these important items.
This direct impact can be seen in the vintage posters of the times. Many posters can be seen that urged people to do their part to support the war effort. These posters would have been seen easily in everyday life, making the messages a constant reminder of what was needed.
The Push to Converse and Preserve Food
One of the ways we can see the impact of wartime scarcity is through vintage posters. Our collection includes several posters urging citizens to conserve food and to get creative to make the most of the supplies that they had. These posters would have been a constant reminder to the people of this era that their small actions could have a greater impact.
Waste Not, Want Not
This poster, created between 1914-18, shows two women standing behind a table covered with fresh vegetables as well as canned foods. It features the slogan “Waste Not, Want Not - Prepare for Winter - Save Perishable Foods by Preserving Now”. This vintage poster urges people to not let their perishable food go to waste and to instead preserve these foods to be used throughout the winter. Canning/preserving foods is still a regular practice today, but we don’t see a public push to make the effort to truly use everything you have, letting nothing go to waste.
Lick the Platter Clean
With its bright color palette, this vintage poster was sure to grab the eyes of anyone walking past. With a bright red background, the poster features the text “Lick the Platter Clean - Don’t Waste Food”, and shows a drawing of Jack Sprat and his wife holding a shining, clean platter. Created in 1944 by the U.S. War Food Administration, this poster sought to contribute to the war effort by encouraging people to prevent food waste. Food and supplies were crucially needed for the war effort, and that need was felt by everyday citizens who had to do their best to help preserve food.
While the effects of distant wars aren’t often as directly felt today as they were during the time this poster was created, its message is timeless. Whether you are contributing to food conservation for a war effort, or simply trying to reduce your carbon footprint, preventing food waste is always a worthwhile effort. Not wasting food is something we teach our children in hopes that they continue to be conscious in the future. The slogans and message on this vintage poster are still relevant today and would make a great addition to the decor in any kitchen or dining room, where that message is needed most.
Nutritious Foods From Corn
“Wholesome, Nutritious Foods From Corn” reads this vintage poster from 1918. Below this main text, there are many homemade foods, as well as corn starch, oil, and syrup. Created by the United States Food Administration, this unique vintage poster encourages viewers to make use of numerous available corn products “in cakes, candies, puddings and preserving for salads, shortening and for frying”. With resources limited during wartime, it was important for everyone to make the most of what was available. In this case, viewers of the poster were encouraged to use the corn-based products that were available to them in numerous ways in the kitchen.
Grocery Shopping Advertisements
Advertising has been a constant in society, with every brand and store hoping to catch the attention of passersby in an attempt to draw in business. Advertisements are so common today that we often don’t realize how many ads we see in a day. Our mailboxes are frequently filled with advertisements and coupons from local grocery stores. While the style of the ads, and the method of their distribution have changed, these types of advertisements have been around for ages.
Red and White Brand Foods Poster
Our vintage poster advertising Red and White Brand Foods is a nostalgic window to the mid-1950s. This advertisement was originally published in Ladies’ Home Journal, a testament to the gendered marketing of the age. The poster shows a female shopper leaving a store with a clerk behind her. It also advertises Red and White’s “21st annual trainload sale”, and shows numerous canned and prepackaged foods available from the brand.
The style of the poster itself, as well as the styling of the people pictured in it, exude nostalgia for a bygone era. Our reproduction prints of this unique poster would blend perfectly into the decor of any kitchen or dining room, sparking conversation and intriguing your guests.
How to Choose the Right Print Options for You
We know everyone has different preferences and needs when buying prints. Some are looking for a grand statement piece, while others are trying to fill a gap in their decor. Different print and frame styles can either blend seamlessly or clash with your existing decor, so we want to make sure you have all the info you need before making your purchase!
Our Sizing System for Vintage Poster Reproductions
While we offer our vintage photographs in standard sizes, this unfortunately isn’t possible with our vintage posters. These mostly simply were not made with modern standard sizes in mind, and it is rarely possible to crop a poster to a standard size without cutting off important details from the image. Despite this, we still wanted to make sure you can order multiple posters in similar sizes so they can be displayed together.
To accomplish this, we offer our posters in a range of sizes, with each set of sizes sharing the same long dimensions. For example, if you want to order a set of 3 different posters to display in a row, you can order 3 posters that are each 16” tall. The short dimensions of each poster will vary, but they will all be the same height, allowing for a beautiful, organized display.
The amount of sizes we offer for each poster varies on the size and quality of the file we have. Some posters are not able to be printed as large as others without significant loss of quality and sharpness.
Choosing Paper or Canvas
All of our prints are available to be purchased on fine art paper and canvas. Both options are museum quality and archival, rated to last over 100 years. You can read more about the specific materials we use here.
The choice between paper and canvas largely depends on your own preferences. Our canvas prints are varnished, stretched onto hardwood stretcher bars, and are ready to hang on the wall as is. Paper prints, on the other hand, will need to be framed before they can be displayed. With framing, there are endless possibilities in terms of style. You can go for a modern look to contrast the vintage image, or you can choose a more vintage style frame to match.
Whichever option you choose, you can rest easy that you are getting the highest quality print possible. Our skilled technicians will inspect your print before it leaves our studio to ensure there are no flaws.