Story: Food shops

The Four Square man

The Four Square man

This print by artist Dick Frizzell celebrates an icon of New Zealand life for many decades. The Four Square brand has been used to market this chain of grocery stores since 1924, when the company secretary was doodling and drew a square around the number 4 on a calendar. The smiling cartoon grocer with a sharpened pencil behind his ear appeared in the early 1950s, and was designed by the advertising department of Foodstuffs (the parent company). Dick Frizzell screenprinted this depiction in 2001 – a homage to both the Four Square man's association with suburban New Zealand and the pop art of US artist Andy Warhol.

Using this item

Private collection
Reference: Dick Frizzell, Dick Frizzell: the painter. Auckland: Godwit, 2009, p. 312
Screenprint by Dick Frizzell

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How to cite this page:

Carl Walrond, 'Food shops - Grocers', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/25476/the-four-square-man (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Carl Walrond, published 11 Mar 2010, updated 1 Sep 2016