Tooth's KB Lager - As cool and refreshing as an early morning dip!
Date1920s
Object number00017903
NamePoster
MediumColour lithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 1105 x 808 mm, 0.15 kg
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis poster advertising Tooth's KB Lager features a lithographic image of a male diver wearing a racing-style swimsuit. Advertising posters were affixed to the tiled walls outside Australian pubs and used sporting imagery and slogans to associate liquor products with health and well being.HistoryThe concept of the pub as a picture gallery came originally from Sydney portrait painter Jules Henry Roy Rousel. Rousel had been trained at the Royal Art School in Sydney and at the Slade and Royal Academy schools in London. In the 1920s Rousel took over a failing sign writing business. In 1929 he sketched English statesman Earl Balfour, with a revolutionary idea to hang the portrait behind glass on the outside of the Lord Balfour Hotel on the corner of Elizabeth and King Streets. The Balfour portrait caused an immediate sensation, crowds gathering to watch the construction of the glass panels on the hotel. This bold new idea had taken art out of the gloomy cloisters of the galleries and brought it to the people.
Rousel saw the potential of pub pictorials providing other groups and districts a sense of personal connection with their favorite pubs. From the Tooth's board, Rousel secured a trial patch of pub paintings sporting scenes that included a clear message that Tooth's beer was the breakfast of champions. Rousel was responsible for the development of the pub poster as a popular and iconic addition to the Australian pub. Pub posters became an eye catching and easy way of marketing - with the beach featuring as one of the most popular and iconic subjects.
Tooth & Co Ltd was established in 1835 and incorporated in New South Wales in 1888, the company was acquired by Carlton & United Breweries in 1983. There was a time in a bygone era, when every Australian pub wasn't complete unless it had its own Tooth & Co pub poster.
SignificanceThe themes of pub paintings and posters were deliberately chosen to emphasise, reflect and reinforce local interests where the posters were displayed. This poster is representative of beach culture and aquatic sports - popular themes chosen by artists producing advertising for breweries.
