Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Poster - Moffett for Senator

Object Number

1982-08-4

Description

Political poster - grey background. Yellow lettering across top "Jobs...Not Cheese" and at bottom "Moffett" in red, "For" in white, "Senator" in blue. Man's white suit, yellow shirt and red and white striped tie. Instead of a head there is a piece of swiss cheese, yellow with large holes. Patterned background on left and window with curtain on right. Framed under glass with simple wooden white frame.

Provenance

Created for Toby Moffett's unsuccessful campaign for Senate in 1982. Moffett, a Democrat and native of Farmington, served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983 as a member from Connecticut's 6th congressional district. Moffett founded the Connecticut Citizen Action Group in 1970 alongside politician and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. His social circle included residents of Litchfield, including Rufus and Leslie Stillman. Moffett worked with four different artists to create posters for his 1974 and 1982 campaigns.

Comment

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) was an American pop artist and a leading figure in the new art movement during the 1960s. This poster repurposes his work, "Cheese Head," which was previously used on a 1978 poster for an exhibit of surrealist paintings at ACE Gallery (Los Angeles). The tagline on Moffett's campaign poster refers to the economic policies of then-President Ronald Reagan, and specifically the distribution of surplus, processed "government cheese" to welfare recipients and other Americans during the economic recession of the early 1980s.