Milton Glaser

Don't Eat Grapes
1969

This image features a poster from the International Grape Boycott Day, dated May 10, 1969, with the bold statement "Don't Eat Grapes." The poster has a stylized illustration of a grape cluster in shades of green and purple, with a leaf and vine visible at the top. The background is black, and there is a quote at the bottom from Cesar Chavez, referencing the struggles and humanity of men and women, from a letter from Delano by the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO, Delano, California.

This image features a poster from the International Grape Boycott Day, dated May 10, 1969, with the bold statement "Don't Eat Grapes." The poster has a stylized illustration of a grape cluster in shades of green and purple, with a leaf and vine visible at the top. The background is black, and there is a quote at the bottom from Cesar Chavez, referencing the struggles and humanity of men and women, from a letter from Delano by the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO, Delano, California.

Not on view

Date
1969

Classification
Prints

Medium
Offset lithograph

Dimensions
Sheet: 36 1/2 × 26 1/2in. (92.7 × 67.3 cm)

Accession number
2000.90

Edition
Edition unknown

Publication
Published by United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO, Delano, California

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Rights and reproductions
© Milton Glaser

API
artworks/12635

Videos

Sinister Pop: Milton Glaser, Don't Eat Grapes, 1969

Audio

August 12, 2015
Prem Krishnamurthy on Don’t Eat Grapes by Milton Glaser

In 99 Objects

0:00

August 12, 2015
Prem Krishnamurthy on Don’t Eat Grapes by Milton Glaser

0:00
Milton Glaser, Don’t Eat Grapes, 1969

In America Is Hard to See

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Milton Glaser, Don’t Eat Grapes, 1969

0:00

Milton Glaser: I’m Milton Glaser. I’m a graphic designer by profession.
The grape workers’ union approached me and they asked me if I would do a poster for them.
Well it’s a rather simple-minded image of a bunch of grapes that is also perceived as a skull.
The farmers in California and elsewhere were being terribly exploited at the time, and it became a national scandal. And there was a significant movement where people stopped eating grapes as a protest to these conditions.
The idea of making a skull out of grapes was not too difficult to arrive at. It’s a little corny. But in this particular case being popular, and being obvious, and being almost comic in that kind of reference was not inappropriate. I mean you wanted to do something that had the simplicity and impact of a comic image without being funny, and one that would be easily recognized and memorable.

Exhibitions

Milton Glaser
1 work in the collection

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