1971 21'x10' 7Up UnCola "Matisse" vintage billboard poster by Pat Dypold #7Upvintage

- - - Please note that ALL of my images are "All Rights Reserved" and are posted for educational purposes only. Please do the right thing and contact me in advance if you wish to discuss the use or reuse of my images and provide a link to my originals. I would also ask that I be given a "first look" at any 7Up UnCola billboards or posters before you market them to the general public in return for my extensive investment in time, money and research, including interviewing some of the surviving artists. Thanks, and enjoy. - - -

 

Search "7Up UnCola Billboards" on eBay or Flickr.com if you'd like to learn more about this stunning body of work or acquire originals that might be duplicates to me. I keep the best and sell the rest.

 

21' x 10', 7Up "Matisse" vintage 30-sheet UnCola billboard poster.

Learn more details about this, and other giant posters in my "7Up Billboard" set (right, or link below):

www.flickr.com/photos/30559980@N07/sets/72157623502964435/

 

Original cost: $8.50. The poster offer was postmarked 4/11/1977. The artist was Pat Dypold who once worked at the J. Walter Thompson [advertising] Company in Chicago that orchestrated the 7Up UnCola ad campaign. Most of the UnCola work was performed after she opened her own studio and took commissions from JWT. Her signature is in the bottom right corner. She also did the well known 7Up butterfly and bottle artwork and the bulk of the other outdoor ads. The ad that was used to order this particular poster and 2 others can be seen in my set.

 

Collage of (16) various sized panels totaling 9'-9" x 21'-1". Each thick paper sheet was photographed panel-by-panel on a homemade vacuum table (<$30) to minimize inconsistent lighting and shadows from folds and photoshopped together into this color collage . This has never been displayed individually or as a complete unit. There is some yellowing noticable in certain areas due to the vast square footage of monotone white background. No pin holes. The colors are really this vivid! The 2 far left panels were/are missing and have been recreated digitally from a smaller poster of the same image. At some point I will print the 2 panels on matching paper.

 

The presence of signatures was a perk to help certain artists establish name recognition. Artists, well known or not, were invited to submit designs that were then reviewed anonymously by the client. Interestingly, those submitted by Peter Max were not picked for the campaign per the art director at JWT.

 

Check out one of the original inspirations by Matisse in blue:

www.flickr.com/photos/classicartrecreations/1551826347/

 

If you have any UnCola billboard posters, please tell me about them. Has anyone ever seen another one of these? - - ALMOST ONE OF A KIND - - EXTREMELY RARE. To the best of my knowledge, only 1 poster sized copy of this image has ever surfaced in addition to my billboard. There are no other known billboards of this image.

 

Update: A 60" x 45" poster sized version of this same image has been acquired:

www.flickr.com/photos/30559980@N07/7345914346/in/set-7215...

 

This is only the 4th 7Up UnCola billboard image to be processed so far out of about 2 dozen different images in my collection to date. Check back later to see more as they get repaired (if necessary), photographed and photo-collaged together. It takes a while to process thousands of square feet of vintage paper that's almost 5 decades old in my limited spare time. I also have a few duplicates of the more popular billboards.

 

5/6/16: Milton Glaser commenting on Matisse:

rightearleft.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/milton-glaser-desig...

 

Done