Advertising the Great State Fair

Hart-Kaiser Posters from the War Years

By Jane Doe
This paper analyzes two posters advertising the Minnesota
State Fair. The posters illustrate the importance of the Fair
as a cultural meeting point and the embodiment of opti-
mism and patriotism about the new culture of European-
Americans in Minnesota. Agricultural and domestic arts
were the backbone of life for many Minnesotans. While
industries of extraction and manufacturing had made many
new fortunes, to a majority of the population, the exchange
of information and artistry was an important annual ritual,
and the landscape of the fairgrounds was an important
container for that exchange.

Both Posters are credited to “Hart-Kaiser” and are letterpress-printed on heavy board measuring 19.5” x 14”. Similar in
design, half of the poster is text that names the fair and its dates and an imperative, “We Must Mobilize for Food Efficien-
cy.” The other half contains a colorful illustration about an aspect of the fair. The team of Hart-Kaiser created many such
posters over the years; I chose two from the same year that illustrate different but complimentary aspects of the State Fair.

While not specifically dated, an intake date on a different poster in the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society
places this style between 1910 and 1919. The imperative about food efficiency narrows the range to the years of rationing
during or shortly after WWI, 1917-1919. The posters were printed with a furniture letterpress with individual metal type;
the impressions of the type are still visible on the board. The linework is done in chunks, and ink buildup is visible on the
edge of color fields. The illustrations are photo engraved in what appears to be a five-color process (Tincher, 2007).

The first poster’s illustration contains a centered image of European-

American woman in large, armless upholstered chair sewing a quilt
in a home setting. Done in a flat, Japanese print perspective style, a
floor lamp and cat are in front of her at the edge of the viewing plane.
The woman and the cat gaze out towards viewer. To her right stands a
pedestal lidded box, perhaps holding sewing notions. A heavy, velvet-
looking curtain hangs behind, creating a backdrop to the asymmet-
rically-balanced composition. To the right of the curtain hang a wall
decoration and two framed pictures. The one in an oval frame appears
to be a man’s portrait, while the other is a small rectangular image
reminiscent of the painting of woman in cap seen in profile.
 The woman’s red hair is curled and put up, with small pin or bow on the right. She
wears a yellow-ruffled blouse or shirtwaist. The lamp, pedestal box and wall-hanging
are all done in an arts-and-crafts style with an “oriental” motif. The quilt or spread that
the woman is sewing has alternating blocks of red and white, possibly a subtle patriotic
reminder, and various colored blocks with a square motif.

Red hair curled, put up, with pin

or bow on the right side.

Lamp and wall-hanging done in an

arts-and-crafts style with oriental
motif.

Yellow-ruffled blouse. Quilt with alternating red and

white boxes.

Attention is drawn to the woman through the use of complimen-

tary colors and a triangular composition. Walls are deep purple
with darker purple curtains and the woman’s clothes predomi-
nantly yellow in color. The quilt forms the base of a triangular
composition with the woman’s head at the apex. A finishing
detail, the white cat in the foreground stands out from the deeply
patterned mid-ground and contrasts with the dark background.

The message of this poster is one of prosperity, comfort and

personal industry. The State Fair was the zenith of display and
competition of the domestic arts. The illustration conveys a stan-
dard of living that was not achievable to the majority of citizens
at the time, but could be obtained by proxy by submitting entries
in or attending the fair. A room of this rich finish, complete with
white cat, speaks to the many families who made fortunes in the
lumber, agricultural, manufacturing and transportation industries The white cat standing out from
at that time, but would not be a standard room in an average the background.
Minnesotan household. The fancy, ruffled sleeves with three
buttons were not a style worn by women who were attending to
heavy household chores.
The second poster illustrates a man demonstrating cultivation driving metal-wheeled
tractor. A large thresher or similar machine sits to the left in the immediate background,
with a cone-roofed silo sits to the right and behind. The tractor is surrounded by a
dozen well-dressed people, nine men and three women, all European-American in ap-
pearance. All are wearing hats; the variety of mens’ styles include bowler, cap, “mount-
ie,” flat straw, fedora, and short top hat. While the tractor driver’s sleeves are rolled, his
gentlemanly outfit includes collar and tie.

A variety of men styled hats.

Cultivation with a metal-wheeled

tractor with red thresher.

Well dressed individuals. Well dressed men.

A small family group with two children are in the mid-ground,

with crowds of people in background, silhouetted by rooflines
with flags snapping in the breeze. The rooflines indicate specific
State Fair buildings, including the horticultural building, the
livestock pavilion, the grandstand and others.

Complimentary colors are also used in this composition. The

green tractor is backed by the red threshing machine, and orange
roofs of the silo and fair buildings pop against the navy blue sky.
The tractor, thresher and silo create a triangular composition that
draws the eye, while leaving enough weight on the left for the
eye to take in the background crowd and buildings.

The rich, turned soil in the foreground and the smartly-dressed

fairgoers communicate prosperity.
The cheerful flags and modern advances displayed at Machinery
Roofline of State Fair Buildings Hill speak of an optimism about the new culture of Minnesota
with flags. that appears to have continued throughout the war years. Abun-
dant agricultural opportunity due to fertile soil and technological
farming advances overshadow the demand to “mobilize for food
efficiency.”
Perhaps due to the relatively short involvement of the United
States in WWI, food shortages from that time are not as widely
known as those experienced in WWII. In researching this period,
I found a selection of news releases by the Madison office of the
Wisconsin Division of the United States Food Administration
from March and April, 1918. The main thrust of food rationing
was to conserve wheat, sugar and meat. The memo illustrated is
asking people to eat more meat and less bread, as there was an
acute shortage of wheat. This would thus free up more wheat for
export to the European allies and troops.

While technological changes were happening rapidly, crop yields

still necessitated a large segment of the European-American im-
migrant population to be farmers. The fair allowed an annual ex- News release by the Madison of-
fice of the Wisconsin Division of
change of information and demonstration of crop and husbandry the United States Food Adminis-
achievements and showcased new advances in technology. tration.

In both posters, the colors of the illustration above are generally

complimentary to the type below. The eye is drawn to the bright,
yellow field of type balanced by the vividly colored illustra-
tion above. The fair was well-enough known that the minimum
amount of information was deemed necessary to get people to
the fairgrounds—just the title of the event, with no times or loca-
tion information given.

As an institution, the State Fair was important for Minnesota’s

new society. As a landscape, the Fairgrounds was an integral part
of the yearly gathering, the “stage” containing the buildings and
space necessary for the annual ritual to play out.

Bibliography

Minnesota Historical Society

Domestic Arts Poster, FM6.55D a1, circa 1918
Machinery Hill Poster, FM6.53 a3, circa 1918
Tod Hart Photograph, N1.1 r50, 1922

Tincher, Michael; graphic arts and printing expert; poster examina-

tion and conversation with the author, April 21, 2007

Wisconsin Historical Society

News release dated March 9, 1918 from Madison, WI office of the
Wisconsin Division of the United States Food Administration.
http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.
php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=12266