Putting on the Ritz, the Fig Newton and more
Iconic works of commercial artist on display
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

Clockwise from top - Don Stern, son of famed commercial artist Sydney Stern,discusses his father's works. This photo, on display at the exhibit in South Brunswick, shows the late artist at work. Visitors can view the original cover art for the Ritz crackers box.

While many social critics bemoan the mixture of art and commerce, it is instead being celebrated.

In an exhibit at the South Brunswick municipal building, the works of Sydney Stern, an award-winning commercial artist known as the designer of the original Ritz crackers box, are on display.

Friends, family and art enthusiasts alike viewed both the commercial and personal work of a prolific painter whose son, Don Stern, lives in the township's Kendall Park. It was the sixth in a series of gallery exhibits that the South Brunswick Arts Commission has been holding for the past two years. The exhibit, which runs along the right hallway, visible when entering the main doors to the municipal building, shows first a self-portrait of the artist, who, when it was painted, was a gentle-looking man with gray hair and thick spectacles. Down the hallway is his early work, which consisted mostly of patriotic posters he was commissioned to do during the first World War.

SCOTT PILLING staff

Of note, however, is a political cartoon drawn in rough ink. It depicts a diver fighting an octopus that is meant to represent voter fraud in the Republican Party, with a sword named "Hearst." According to Don Stern, it was drawn when his father was 17.

"Something happened in the news and so he stayed up all night drawing this political cartoon, and in the morning he took it to two New York newspapers and they offered to buy it, but he felt the sum they were offering for them was not worth the effort. So he did not become a political cartoonist, based on this experience," he said.

Another early work was a World War I poster that actually won him a contest. His was one of several selected from about 10,000 entries for printing, resulting in a letter of congratulations from the secretary of war at the time. It asks, "Are You 100 Percent American? Prove it! Buy U.S. Government Bonds."

It is Stern's commercial work, however, that he is best known for. He developed a style that incorporates a lot of curved, gentle lines, and soft colors blending into each other comes into prominence, leaking its way into many of the things he painted. This is apparent in both his commercial work and his personal work, which hangs on the opposite wall of the hallway.

Among the products which Stern designed artwork for are Fig Newtons and Barnum's Animals crackers, both of which were also served as refreshments during the reception. His design for the Animal Crackers box also led to the creation of a new cracker.

"All these animals are all monotone, they're all the same color, and they're interesting animals, but nothing stands out. So he decided to put in a white polar bear that would really capture the eye. Children couldn't find the polar bear cookie, though, so they had to make one," said Don Stern.

Also among the artist's creations is the original design for the Ritz crackers box, which his son said was designed over the course of a weekend, when he had a cold. According to Don Stern, Nabisco wanted to rush a cracker out to market as soon as possible, to compete with another snack cracker that was wildly popular at the time. He was contacted, came home and sequestered himself in his attic while he thought of designs for the box. He gained inspiration from the logo design in his hat.

Don Stern also noted that his father was the first to think of putting the actual product's picture on the box itself.

Sydney Stern was also fascinated with Mexico, where he studied art and would visit yearly for a large portion of his life. His personal paintings, using the same soft style, portrayed life in Mexico at that time. One painting shows a busy market while the one right after it is actually a close-up of a particular scene in the first painting. He also experimented with many different techniques. He produced one painting with definable Cubist influence, with sharp lines and defined contrasts that stands in stark exception to the bulk of his work before.

People viewing the exhibit generally had positive things to say.

"I'm really excited by it," said Fran Nimeck, who was a professional book cover designer. "Commercial work, you need to please both yourself and the client. When you're doing your work, you only need to please yourself, and that's hard enough sometimes."

The show will run through March 31. For more information, call the South Brunswick Arts Commission at (732) 329-4000, ext. 7635.