Fruits Of Commerce: The Bountiful Depictions of Joseph Bruno Moran

The front cover of the Dominion Mark recipe book, published 1934. A beautiful design attributed to Moran, and refers to the series of greengrocers’ posters in the back, but no specific mention of one that links back to any of his known work.  

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Generally the artist does not matter a great deal in the scheme of the finished product, and stays forever in the background – never to get any attention or acknowledgement for their sometimes spectacular work. Having spent nearly fifteen years in that commercial art realm myself I certainly understand this aspect.

Poster for greengrocers commissioned by Dominion Mark, c. 1920s-1930s, watercolour, pencil and pen. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-F-MORAN-01.

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I also  certainly know that the commercial  artist  often has more input than we are aware of; well – that’s the point which is confirmed when talking to commercial artists of yore – back in the day when roles like the high-faluting  “art director”,  and even “copy writer”, were terms that had not yet been created or at least were far and few between – the artist would often encompass an element of all of those jobs.

An example of late 19th century fabric design, in gouache on paper.

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 Although some celebrated artists like Dick Frizzell not only were elevated to more of a creative input role, but went on to garner cred in the fine arts world as well – Joseph Bruno Moran was an artist who embodied the completely authentic role of purely making commercial work , as exemplified in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection as well as that of the Auckland Art Gallery–  of which both institutions share a  collection of  Moran’s most beautiful items.  This is underlined by the fact that you can see the rendering process in a number of them; pencil marks and notes and paint brush strokes just underline the legitimacy.

Poster for greengrocers commissioned by Dominion Mark, c. 1920s-1930s, watercolour, pencil and pen. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-F-MORAN-02.

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Many examples are lush, beckoning  fruits – pears, apples, and citrus – created as crate labels for Dominion Mark, the “brand” of the N.Z. Fruitgrowers’ Federation Ltd,  and they will be familiar to many as they are often held up as some of the best early examples of New Zealand commercial art. I bet the fruit boxes have never looked this good (before or) since.

Champion flour poster, gouache, circa 1920s. Auckland Art Gallery collection, Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mrs K M Marsh, 1976. Accession Number: 1976/40/1/12

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aHe also created  a number of posters  on the same topic,  commissioned  for display in greengrocers’ shops around the same time he completed the cover of their Dominion Mark Fruit Book (1934). It seems that the posters were in conjunction with the NZ Herald, so they may have been given away in the newspapers of the period. (Wilson & Horton, New Zealand’s leading news and information company owned the NZ Herald –  and were one of Moran’s private clients).

Watercolour, pencil and pen rough for chutney label, circa 1920s. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-A-MORAN-07

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aJoseph Bruno Moran was born in 1874 at Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, Lancashire to mechanical engineer James (1940-1900) and Eleanor Mary A. Moran nee Weightman (1852-). He was one of five children and the oldest. His siblings were James Aloysius (1876), Agnes (1879), Clara May E. (1884), and Eleanor Mary (1893). The family stayed in Stretford, residing at 18 Rose Street in the 1881 British census, and remained in the area well into the 1890s.

It was here  that he began in the field of textile design. By the time he was 17 years old, and living at 50 Combrook Road, Stretford with his parents and one brother, he is already a designer’s apprentice.  Given some of the gouache art samples I have seen produced by mills in the late nineteenth century his later skill with the brush in this medium for advertising makes sense – as his brilliance would stem from his training in this field.

Political cartoon, pen and ink, likely for the Auckland Star, circa mid-late 1910s.  Credit: Auckland Art Gallery collection, Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mrs K M Marsh, 1976,  Accession Number:1976/40/3/5

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In 1901 he is living at 31 Leaf Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock,  South Manchester, as a boarder. He lists his profession at the time as fabric and embroidery designer. As a result of the  Industrial Revolution, the population of Chorlton as well as many other areas of Manchester, quickly increased  “a hundred fold” and the town became filled with textile mills, and overcrowded, poor quality housing with  dismal  sanitation. Still, it meant plenty of work locally  for those of a creative disposition.

Watercolour, pencil and pen rough for canned fruit label, circa 1920s. Probably a sample for portfolio – I doubt “Whoisit & Co” really existed. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-B-MORAN-08

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He left the U.K. for New Zealand,  from the London port in 1912 and travelling to Auckland via Sydney, Australia. Why he decided to emigrate will probably remain a mystery. He had married Emma Barbara (nee Travers) in Chorlton in 1907. She was  a number of years younger than him,  being born 1885 in Prestwich, Lancashire.

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Lithograph illustration commissioned by the NZ Herald newspaper c 1920s-1930s, Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-D-MORAN-1920s-03

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 In 1911 he was working as a designer for calico prints, in South Machester. The couple were  living at 5 Baldock Road, Didsbury, South Manchester, with a baby daughter, Kathleen Marie Moran (1910-1986). Both Kathleen and her mother followed Joseph to Aotearoa one year later, leaving from London in 1913. There were three other children born in New Zealand of which both sons died in their twenties; James Rene (known as Jimmy, 1918-1944), Edward (Teddy, 1916-1937) and Annie Moran.

Poster for greengrocers commissioned by Dominion Mark, c 1920s-1930s, lithograph. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-D-MORAN-1920s.

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Upon his arrival he worked as a salesman for a couple of years. He was living in a building named “Kelvin”, in Reimers Ave, Mt Albert. Concurrently Emma Moran was either living separately in  Edendale Rd Kingsland, or the Kelvin address was a studio to build up freelance work (a more likely scenario, although why give it as a residential address and not ascribe his true profession). The other obvious possibility is that the couple were simply separated at the time.  He was employed by the Auckland Star newspaper as a commercial artist some time during or after 1914.  A few examples of his political cartoons in pen and ink, done for this paper survive, but whether he conceptualized them as well – we don’t know.

Maori Wonderland picture album, published by Frank Duncan & Co Ltd, c. 1920. Possibly the cover, as well as the company’s logo, were designed by Moran. Courtesy of Early Canterbury Photographers blog, canterburyphotography.blogspot.com

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In the mid-1910s he was working as an assistant lithograph artist, then there is an indication that he served briefly in the first world war,  as he is listed in the  New Zealand Army WWI Reserve Rolls of 1916-1917  – this may have been in the capacity of war artist.

Poster for greengrocers commissioned by Dominion Mark, c 1920s-1930s, lithograph. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-D-MORAN-1920s-01.

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aIn 1919  he is again on record as working as salesman. The family are living at 102 Burnley Terrace, Mt Roskill. This same year he started his own business in the Palmerston Buildings opposite the Auckland Post Office, on the corner of Queen and Custom street (an Italiante office block from circa 1900 – demolished around 1970). His clients included: Bushell’s (tea, coffee), the Northern Roller Milling Co (flours and cereals), Harvey & Company, Clark & Matheson (mainly travel maps and posters), Smith & Caughey (department store on Queen Street which is still operating today), John Weeks Ltd,  Duncan & Co (postcards and other  tourist goods such as books and albums).

“The Parting of the Ways”  Troopship Journal,  by Abel Dyke Ltd, published 1919. Digital image courtesy of Dunedin Public Libraries, Ref: Troopship_ZTPAR_01. I thought this may have been possibly designed by Moran, thus included it. However since writing this article some time back, a copy turned up at auction showing an advert on the back cover for Cailler’s chocolates designed by leading advertising agency Charles Haines. It doesn’t mean that Moran didn’t design the cover illustration; but seems unlikely now. 

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Also – Johnstons Ltd (tea, the warehouse was at 20 Customs Street East), Household Necessity Company (No Rubbing laundry help was one of their products ), Brett Printing and Publishing Company Ltd,  Roma Tea company (I have a lot of ads, it’s hard to say which if any are Moran’s, and Charles Haines Agency definitely still had Roma as a client in 1920).

Crate label designs in Watercolour for Dominion Mark Fruit, N. Z. c1930s. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Numbers: Eph-B-MORAN-11 and Eph-C-THORP-01.

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In addition – Brown Barrett & Co (which I covered recently here),  Abel Dykes Ltd (printers, engravers, and bookbinders – their big business was stationery). In 1920 he designed an illuminated address from the Legion of Frontiersmen for the visit of the Prince of Wales which was  held at the Art Gallery in Manchester- going full circle.

Fashion illustration, not confirmed as Moran’s work but does look like his style. Photo-lithograph, Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Number: Eph-A-COSTUME-1926-01-cover.

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The fact that he was described as a “salesman” again when he was most likely running his own business as a  commercial artist makes me wonder whether the previous same description just after his arrival in the country was just a way of describing him as a freelancer. Although, again – why not just ascribe an accurate profession as done at all other times? It makes more logical  sense that it is an accurate description and during times of difficulty or urgency he did indeed take other work. How relative it was to advertising, I do not know.

In 1928 the family were living at 27 Mountain View Rd, Mt Roskill when they picked up and left for Wellington, where Joseph worked for the Bank’s Box Company briefly while they lived at 45 Karepa Street. Sometime between 1929 and early 1931 they returned to Auckland.  Apart from that work foray he resided the rest of his life in Auckland at 18 Reimers Avenue, Mount Albert. their unmarried daughters are registered as living with them; Kathleen in 1938, and Annie during 1946-1949.

Bushell’s tea  poster, gouache, circa 1920s. Auckland Art Gallery collection, Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mrs K M Marsh, 1976. Accession Number: 1976/40/1/1.

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The N.Z. Fruitgrowers’ Federation Ltd was also based in Wellington so they were obviously relative to his period  there (and likely explains why he didn’t choose to stay in Auckland and work for the Bank’s Box Company branch instead);  and it was around this time that Moran started to do his most well-remembered work for them. Most sources quote circa 1931-1935 for his fruit labels and posters but I’d take a quite educated guess they were done between 1928 and 1931.

I have dozens of ads that could possibly be by Moran. These are two examples of work that may possibly be his – as they were both clients at this time. Johnston’s teas,  Auckland Star ,  October 1922, and Roma tea,  Auckland Star, December 1925.  Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

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aBy mid-1931 was employed as head of the Art Department at the NZ Herald in the commercial printing section; and there he stayed for over twenty years. He worked almost up until his death, finishing at the Herald just twelve weeks before he passed away.  He died in 1952  at 78 years old.

Johnston Ltd tea tin probably designed by Moran, circa 1920s.

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aFor someone who was precise enough never to fail in using their middle name, there is surprisingly little documented about his life and career.  I don’t really  know anything else about his background or persona, or expect to find anything more than I have – excepting that he and his wife bought land off a Denis Joseph Whelan  just a few years prior to his death in 1945. His wife died quite some time after him in 1970, at the ripe old age of  84 in Murrays Bay on the upper North Shore, and it was likely after this event that his daughter ( by now Kathleen Marsh-Wildgoose) thought about preserving his memory through his work.

The front and back cover of the Dominion Mark recipe book, published 1934. Undoubtedly Moran’s work. The cooking manual contained recipes for jams, preserves and instructions for bottling. 

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He was skilled in pen, watercolours and oils, a lithographic expert, and a magician in gouache. If  it was not for his daughter supplying some notes on his career  as well as a small collection of art and ephemera in the mid-1970s to the Auckland Art Gallery and Alexander Turnbull Library –  it is likely we would know nothing of Moran and his career today except for some odd  surviving examples of  incredible, but potentially anonymous  artwork.

Crate label design for Cox’s, for Dominion Mark Fruit, N. Z. c1930s,  Lithograph, Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts and Pictorial collection, Reference Numbers: Eph-C-THORP-02. Crate label for Dominion Mark Fruit, N. Z. c1930s, photo-lithograph. Auckland Art Gallery collection, Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Mrs K M Marsh, 1976. Accession Number: 1976/40/1/16. Both attributed to Moran.

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All content of Longwhitekid copyright Darian Zam © 2013. All rights reserved.

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Addendum mid-April 2013: Whilst scratching around in the process of  trying to find more information, I followed up a lead on property-seller Denis Joseph Whelan to see if there were any more clues on Moran. There weren’t that I could find – it seems Moran and his wife bought the property planning for retirement and that is where Emma Barbara Moran lived out her days. It revealed scant data associated to my story, however it took me on a little journey and I ended up connecting with a Whelan descendant who sent me via the USA some wonderful pictures of the Whelan/Robb  family taken in an Auckland studio, I’m speculating in the mid-late 1880s. 

Denis Joseph Whelan  (1869-1947)  likely immigrated to New Zealand in the 1880s , between 1881-1890, just  prior to UK passenger records being kept. The only Denis Whelan born 1869 shows up in the UK census as living in Gloucestershire in 1871,  then Essex in 1881 – yet born in South Australia.He is absent from the UK by 1891.  There is nothing to rule out he and his family  travelled back and forth. You would think that with a journey taking months on board, that anyone would be reluctant to re-live that experience more than once in a lifetime – however it happened more often than you would imagine.

 Whelan was a former blacksmith who had once owned a carriage builders Wharton & Whelan in Newton Rd on the corner of  Symonds Street, Auckland with Robert Sydney Wharton, in the early 1890s. They were “makers of waggons (sic), drays, carts, buggies, & vehicles of all descriptions ” . The partnership dissolved in 1894.  He went bankrupt in 1899, and was discharged from the bankruptcy in 1900.

He  married Sarah Ann Robb (born 1871)  in 1894 and they had several children: Joseph 1894, Lilian Maria 1896, Catherine Irene 1897, Muriel Constance 1899, Evelyn Aileen 1902, Albert James Roy 1903, Edward Leslie Raymond 1905.

The same year he sold land to the Morans, he also sold Hector Sutherland McKenzie and Edna Freer McKenzie some land he owned. He died just two years later. His wife had predeceased him in 1942. One can assume he was ill and needed the money to get by to the end.

The images below are of the Robb family; Denis Whelan’s in-laws James and Maria Robb, and possibly Sarah Ann Robb and/or her sisters Eliza Peel  Robb (born 1866) and Maria Jane Robb (born 1868). James and Maria Jane’s other children were James Robb 1869, Henry Robb 1875, William John Robb 1878, and Anna  Robb 1874 – who  died at 9 weeks old and is buried with her parents,  in the Symonds Street Cemetery in Auckland in the part on the corner of Karangahape Rd. Presumably if there were other offspring they entered the world before the family emigrated from Ireland and there were not  records. Little directly relevant to my topic but it was an interesting  side trip, anyway!

 

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James and Maria Robb’s children  circa late 1880s; photographed in Auckland. Likely  Sarah Robb, Denis Joseph Whelan’s wife, and/or her sisters Eliza Peel  Robb (born 1866) and Maria Jane Robb (born 1868). Image courtesy of Jennie Shelley.

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Advert for Whelan’s coach-building business from the Bay Of Plenty Times, 18 February 1895.

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James and Maria Robb, circa 1880s; Sarah Robb’s parents photographed in Auckland. Maria Jane Robb Sr. died in 1898 described as “settler”. I doubt the two pictures were done in the same studio of R H Bartlett who was working in an Auckland studio from 1866 to at least the early 1890s. Image courtesy of Jennie Shelley.

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Advert for  dissolution of Wharton and Whelan’s coach-building business partnership, from the Auckland Star,  9 August 1894.

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Addendum mid-Jan 2014: I’ve done a lot of updates to this story because of new information that has come in about Moran’s life both in England as well as in Auckland. It was a bit thin on the ground before; but I’ve filled in some of his movements, for instance – it was 1928 he moved to Wellington, not 1925 as other sources claim. Which means his stay in the capital city was fairly brief. Perhaps it was not a success. Thanks to descendant Barbara Sheridan for providing information on her ancestors which has helped give a better picture of Moran’s life and career. In addition, I’ve also run across some images lately that I suspect may be his work: 

This souvenir tourist booklet published by the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce in 1926, came up for sale on Trade Me just recently – and bidding was fierce for this gorgeous piece of artwork. I am very sure this is Moran’s work. Everything from the child’s face, to the fonts, to the colour palette is so typical of his style.

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A can label from Dunedin collector Owain Morris’s fantastic extensive collection of OAK memorabilia. You can just see the note in the bottom right corner that indicates it was designed and printed at the N.Z. Herald, aka Wilson and Horton or W&H for short. This was produced in the 1930s and would have been created under the direction of Moran who was in charge of the art department at that time. I can’t say for sure whether any of the labels from this period were actually designed by Moran himself. Generally the work on OAK labels is verging on primitive at worst, and at best it’s usually nowhere near the level of finesse usually attributed to Moran’s amazing lithographic skills.

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This 1920s era lithographed poster for Ovaltine also came up at auction recently. It was a bit damaged but a lovely piece and I’ve never seen another like it. Cursory research turned up nothing similar done in Britain or elsewhere so it’s quite possible that it was a Kiwi-designed and produced item.  I am not completely sure it is Moran’s work –  but it does look strikingly similar to his style during his 1920s freelancing period. Another hint is the font. Moran’s hand-painted fonts were deceptively simple and yet upon examination are usually quietly flamboyant with all kids of kicks and curls in them. Yet they never looked particularly fussy. Over all it reminded me straight away of his “Eat More Fruit” poster (in article above).

This point of sale banner for a grocery/fruit shop wall came up for sale on Trade me a while back, pretty sure it was just after I had published this article. It started off with a rather nominal price and within a few days jumped to about 500% (I think they may have read my piece and realised what they had). As I recall it was about a metre in length, maybe a lot longer. Undoubtedly a Joseph Bruno Moran design for Dominion Mark – not even debatable. This would have been designed in the 1930s but may have been in print for a long time, perhaps even into the 1960s. They tended to run these for a really long time. I remember quite a few of the older health and fruit poster designs were still in print when I was young. And no false advertising – it’s true that delicious apples are delicious.