Valmor Products

Valmor was founded in 1926 as Valmor Products Co. by husband and wife team Rose and Morton Neumann.^[2] Morton Neumann (1898–1985) was a Jewish Hungarian-American chemist from Chicago.^[3] He created Valmor when he realized that there was an untapped market for African-American-focused cosmetics. Valmor products had several sub-brands including Lucky Brown, Madam Jones, King Novelty, and Famous Products Co.^[4] The company was based on the South Side of Chicago throughout its history, selling perfumes, hair pomades, incense, and other beauty products.^[1] The Neumanns ran Valmor until the company closed in 1984.^[5][6]

Valmor was known for its stylized packaging and advertisements featuring illustrations and photographs of African-American models. Notable artists who illustrated for early Valmor product labels and ads were Charles C. Dawson and Jay Jackson.^[2] The Chicago Cultural Center created a retrospective of Jackson and Dawson's work for Valmor in 2015, entitled "Love For Sale: The Graphic Art of Valmor Products". ^[7]

Valmor advertising images of wig styles for sale were used in the album cover for the Rolling Stones' album Some Girls,^[3][2] and in artist Ellen Gallagher's "DeLuxe" series.^[8]