Song With An Apple by Corita Kent

Sister Corita Kent, a prominent artist and social activist, specialized in the making of colorful posters using different printing processes. Her work’s purpose was to spread love, hope, education, and justice. The poster above contains the message “Guard me oh lord as the apple of your eye”. This quote takes inspiration from Psalm 17:18, an excerpt from the bible. David asks God to keep him as the apple of his eye to hide him from any violent enemies. Kent often merges ideas in her art, as seen in this poster. At the top of the poster in white, “World‘s Finest” can be read in all caps, which acts as an interesting contrast to the bible quote. This could be a reference to consumer culture and the relevance of god’s creations. During the 60s, mass production, commercial packaging, and civil rights movement were all extremely prevalent. The composition of the poster is also interesting, as there are two columns of center-aligned crooked type. This has your eye travel around the top of the apple, which takes up most of the dimensions of the poster. The use of these vibrant colors is an indicator of the pop art era. It was indicative of high contrast product packaging and consumerism.