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64
Gabriel, Charles H. Watercolor bust portrait of "Rastus," the model for the Cream of Wheat advertisements,
posed in a toreador's outfit, 15 3/4x11 3/4 inches sight size; trimmed at some point, but with the original signature retained and mounted to the reverse of the frame. Np, circa 1935-40
- Notes: Among the many black icons of American advertising, none are better known than Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus, the familiar colored chef who kindly offered generations of American youngsters their morning bowl of Cream of Wheat. Little is known of him, except that he was a waiter "discovered" by Emory Mapes of the Diamond Milling Company in 1925. After being paid a fixed sum, he (Mapes never knew his name) sat for a painter, and then disappeared. Nothing more was heard of "Rastus," as he became known, until a cache of paintings of him by various artists turned up in 1981 and was put together to form an exhibit which toured the country.
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February 26, 2004 12:00 AM EST
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