James L. and Lynne P. Doti Gallery of American Illustration

Picturing Paradise: The Art of California Orange Box Labels

September 21, 2024 – April 19, 2025

Curated by Gordon McClelland

Gordon McClelland, who pioneered the whole orange-crate label collecting trend with his 1980s books on the subject, curates this exhibition of colorful crate labels dating from the 1880s to 1955. Many of the spectacular illustrations on these labels depicted the sunny paradise that was Southern California, or exoticized it as a land of flirty Spanish senoritas and picturesque haciendas. These designs helped not only to sell oranges, but to promote the notion of California itself as a golden dream state of idyllic beauty and “paradise found.”