SOCIOLOGY OF FOOD
The foods we consume can reveal important information about ourselves, our society, and the prevalent economic systems that mediate it. Throughout history, representations of food have played crucial roles conveying meaning, signaling socio-economic status, and often, contain symbols and signifiers specific to the context in which they were created. As a genre, still lifes gained popularity in the 17th century with the advent of independent artist studios and the evolution of the art market. More recently, artists who depict food and food related imagery often do so to tell a personal story and/or to make a poignant and timely commentary about socio-cultural issues that resonate with contemporary viewers. Whether traditional, or using humor and unconventional visual vocabularies, these artists consider the nuances contained in representations of food that go beyond the edible items represented to address profound themes of interest.
Darryl Curran (American, b. 1935)
Curran describes this as a spontaneous image; he arranged chips, dried bananas, and other items on the floor of his friend’s kitchen to capture the photo. It is part of a series created in the 1970s in which, according to Curran, “food references became “stand ins” for cultural norms, consumerism and political and religious conservatism.” This is especially significant considering this was the time of the proliferation of the fast-food industry in the United States.
Accession Number: 2022.7
Title: Food is Fun
Date: 1978
Medium: CMYK screen print from camera
Rights:
KEYWORDS
food; fast food; eating; humor; kitchen; 1970s; consumerism.
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Peggy Bacon (American, 1895-1987)
Born in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Bacon explored various media and subjects. She is best known today for her good-natured satirical sketches of the New York art world of the 1920s and 30s. In this painting, as the title suggests, Bacon presents the mundane scene of an old man somberly eating a sandwich and stirring his coffee. Many of Bacon’s images were published in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and other widely read magazines.
Accession Number: 1997.7
Title: Lamentable Lunch
Date: 1952
Medium: Gouache on paper
Rights: Public domain
KEYWORDS
daily life; labor; loneliness; lunch; humor; caricature; food; eating.
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Unknown, In the manner of Pieter Claesz
This work is in the style of the 17th century Dutch artist Pieter Claesz, known mostly for his still lifes, a type of representation that focuses on the depiction of natural (fruits, bread, vegetables) and man-made objects (plates, glasses, cups) brought together and arranged in a domestic setting. While similar paintings are often considered celebrations of material possessions, they can also be read as meditations on Vanitas and the transience of life.
Accession Number: 1960.15
Title: Still Life with Beaker, Glass and Fruit
Date: ca. 1660
Medium: Oil on canvas
Rights: Public domain
KEYWORDS
still life; symbolism; vanitas; food; goods; consumption; eating.
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Kim Dingle (American, b. 1951)
In 2000, Dingle took an unplanned break from painting to open a restaurant in her studio. In 2008, Dingle began her Restaurant Mandala paintings inspired by her experiences in restaurant work. She equates the repetitive nature of service work with the meditative experience of creating a mandala, referencing the therapeutic effects of both. She imposes the traditional form of the mandala directly onto the restaurant floorplan where circular tables and plates create a soothing symmetry.
Accession Number: 2020.1.26
Title: Tomato Bisque – Restaurant Mandala
Date: 2020
Medium: Oil on canvas
Rights: © Kim Dingle
KEYWORDS
food; eating; restaurants; labor; gender roles; meditation.
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Marianela de la Hoz (Mexican, b. 1956)
This object contains layers of meaning: carefully arranged, a plate and a set of silverware function as a metaphor. Humorously (the word carne in Spanish means both meat and flesh) the artist alludes to meat as sustenance and to the flesh as a vessel for sexual desire. Painted on the plate is an image of a nude female figure seen from the back, and a male figure with a chicken bone in his hand.
Accession Number: 2015.5
Title: Estoy Necesitada de Carne (I am in Need of Flesh)
Date: 2010
Medium: Egg tempera painting and mixed media assemblage
Rights:
KEYWORDS
eating; food; metaphor; sexuality; physicality; double meanings; gender roles.
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OBJECT FILE
Sharon Core (American, b. 1965)
Cakes is inspired by the 20th century painter Wayne Thiebaud, known for his evocative paintings of cakes and sweets. Working from a photograph of Thiebaud’s painting, Core baked, decorated, and arranged her own cakes, arranging them to replicate Thiebaud’s. Then, Core photographs them, transforming the replica into a new, alternate reality. While commenting on representation, Core also addresses the artificiality of arranging and presenting certain foods and the contrived ways in which we consume images.
Accession Number: 2013.34.134
Title: Cakes, from the series Thiebaud
Date: 2004
Medium: C-print
Rights: © Sharon Core. Image courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery
KEYWORDS
food; eating; appropriation; reproduction; representation; transformation; sweets.
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Gordon Parks (American, 1912-2006)
This photograph was captured by Gordon Parks, LIFE magazine’s first black staff photographer, on an assignment to document segregation in Alabama. The resulting photo essay presented a portrait of the Thornton family. The family members are united by their red clothing with the arrow on the COLORED sign looming over them. The WHITE and COLORED signs seem to both blend in with and stand out from the signs advertising the ice cream stand’s wares.
Accession Number: 2020.1.4
Title: Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama
Date: 1956
Medium: Archival pigment print
Rights: © Gordon Parks Foundation
KEYWORDS
food; eating; ice cream; racial; documentary photography; segregation; the South; discrimination; leisure.
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ADDITIONAL WORKS
Rinaldo Frattolillo, Mr. Goodbar, 2007
Holly Coulis, Two Tables, Oranges, Cherry Cola, 2017
Sandy Skoglund, The Sound of Food, 1986
Duncan Grant, Still Life with Salt Glazed Pitcher, 1915
Donald Sultan, Flowers in a Vase with Oranges, 1994
Francisco Zúñiga, La Comida, 1979
Vik Muniz, Untitled, Medusa, 1999
Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled (Woman with daughter), 1990
