Item Tag: 1930

Morton Neumann started the Valmor Company in 1926 in Bronzeville, Chicago. Having grown up in a black community, he saw firsthand the poor quality of cosmetic products for blacks at that time and being trained as a chemist he realized he could change this. Soon a wide and array of products emerged from his lab- everything from cooking ingredients and cleaning supplies to beauty products, perfumes, skin lighteners and hair straighteners. Neumann diversified, creating the ‘Madam Jones’ product line, ‘Famous’ products as well as ‘Sweet Georgia Brown.’All of Valmor’s product lines featured strikingly original, bright and alluring artwork done first by a commercial artist named Charles Dawson- who would later go on to great success as the curator of the Museum of Negro Art and Culture and the George Washington Carver Museum in Tuskegee during the 1940s then later Jay Jackson, a pin-up artist, would take the artistic reins. Speaking of reigns, Valmor had a nice long one- staying in robust business through catalogs and direct sales in stores until they closed shop in the mid-eighties. There was always interest in the art of Valmor and finally in 2015 there was a show at the Cultural Center in Chicago entitled “Love for Sale: the Graphic Art of Valmor Products” showcasing massive blow-ups of the company’s many eye-catching labels.https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/Valmor.html This Lucky Brown Hair Dressing Directions Label is in great condition and measures approximately 4 1/4 in. x 1 3/4 in.