- Set of Six Vintage - 

 Upjohn Pharmaceutical Series Doctor Prints

By NORMAN ROCKWELL

Description:

Set of six (of eight?) Norman Rockwell doctor prints created as Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company advertisements. This set includes the doctor and doll, the weighing of the baby, the doctor and boy looking at a thermometer, he's going to be taller than his dad, and when the doctor treats your child. 

Height: 19 inches

Width: 15-1/2 inches

The prints have been rolled and a couple have toning and or soiling in the margins that could be covered by matts, otherwise are generally in very good condition.

Published as part of Upjohn's "Your Doctor Speaks" campaign, printed by Forbes Lithograph Mfg. Co., circa 1953.

The Upjohn Company recruited Norman Rockwell in the late 1930s to help bolster public support for the company’s latest evolution: the focus of its research had recently shifted from medicines made from plant-based products to ones derived from animal extracts and chemicals. This transition presented a marketing challenge as the company sought to reassure Americans of their safety. Before instigating a professional relationship with the artist, however, Upjohn executives asked to see an example of Rockwell’s work and were sent the charcoal sketch for a picture recently published as a story illustration in the Saturday Evening Post. Upjohn executives loved Doc Mellhorn and the Pearly Gates, feeling the image brilliantly encapsulated their desired public relations message. They purchased the final oil version of the work.

Rockwell ultimately created seven additional images for Upjohn that appeared as both print and display advertisements in pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices throughout the United States. Seeking to convince wary consumers to view their pharmaceutical and healthcare providers with confidence, Rockwell presents a vision of American healthcare characterized by personal care and intimacy. Beautifully painted and displaying an acute attention to naturalistic detail, the canvas is imbued with the small details of ordinary people in everyday life. The balance of the composition, the warmth in the palette and the intangible familiarity of the scene all ultimately work to communicate a message of trust and stability during an era of enormous flux.